Shinobi High
by Akatsuki's a bang
Summary: Moving to a new town and attending a new school was something I could handle. But when the school is filled with an enthusiastic ramen lover, an emo guy with hair that looks like a ducks butt, a mad pyrotechnic she-male, an insane religious physco, and a teacher who shows you erotic tapes just because the class is called "Health" - well, that changes things. One OC warning.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...though it'd be awesome if I did. **

* * *

To me – life was a complicated process. Sure, there was some simplicity to it, but at the same time certain issues managed to make it a bit harder. Being a teenager happened to be one of those issues.

Hormones, pimples, puberty – they all sucked. Thankfully, my rough relationship with puberty had been brought to a clean finish a few years ago. Hormones? Yeah, they were still raging, but what can you do about it? It's just a part of life.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because school was about to be back in session soon. And not only that, but I was attending a new high school this year.

Around a month ago my mother and I had moved our house. It was a cozy house with 2 bedrooms. The property wasn't too big, but in no way was it small. It was a comfortable place and, surprisingly, I really liked it. For me, the move was a bit rough. I had lived in our previous house since the day I had been born, so the change of location wasn't exactly natural. I worked it out though.

My mother, however – for her it was much worse.

You see…our family wasn't always composed of just the two of us. My father used to be a part of it too. I'd love it if he was, but…well, let me just give it to you truthfully.

He died.

My dad had brain cancer. When I was 12 he was diagnosed. He died right before I turned 17, which happened to be a month or so ago in July. It wasn't exactly tragic, but it was definitely sad when he finally passed.

And while I was adapting to his missing presence, my mom wasn't handling his absence so well. So…she left.

Ultimately, after moving here things didn't seem to be getting any easier for her, so after debating the topic and discussing it with me; she packed up most of her belongings and headed back to our home town. Her parents and brother lived there, as well as all of her friends, so being there would hopefully help her get back into the swing of things.

I stayed behind because I wanted to. I didn't exactly mind living alone – it gave me a better chance to try and establish my own way of life. And not only that, but had taken a liking to the area we had moved into as well.

The house was about a block away from a small, water front town. It was one of those towns that only spanned about a half a mile in each direction. It was filled with restaurants, one for each type of venue – family, banquet, café, you name it. There was also a large library, a movie theatre, clothing stores and such. It was a very nice, comfortable town.

A few blocks in the other direction of our house was the high school. From what I had heard, its name was Shinobi High or something like that. I hadn't gotten around to going to see it yet. I wasn't really in a hurry to become acquainted with the school.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate school or anything, but it wasn't exactly my favorite thing either. It was just one of those necessary parts of life.

So – just to some that all up – I live in house, alone, in a town that I've just moved to…and school will be starting soon. Plus, I don't really know anyone yet either. I think I forgot to mention that.

But I'm cool with it; I'm a bit of a loner anyway, to be honest. Sure, I love just talking with people, but growing up as an only child taught me ways on how to keep myself entertained.

At any rate, let's get back to the present.

Like I mentioned before, it was summer. The air was humid, but the breeze made it bearable. The summer's actually not that bad when there's a breeze. Plus, living near a lake made it a lot cooler too.

Anyway, I was currently sitting on an old wooden bench on the front porch, reading this one book I had gotten for Christmas a few years ago, Grave Witch. Beside me on a small metal table was my iPod. It was hooked up to these portable speakers and Help Is On the Way by Rise Against was currently resonating throughout the area.

The many healthy green trees around me rustled as a gust of wind passed through and birds flew around in the air above, having a good time.

Absently I brushed a strand of curled brown hair out of my face, tucking it behind my pierced ear. I started getting piercings when I was in middle school, and eventually it lead up to the 11 I had now.

Yeah, I know, 11 seems like a lot right? It really wasn't though. All I had was 3 piercings in the lobe of each ear, 2 cartilage piercings in the left ear and an industrial and tragus piercing in the other. And for anyone who isn't too knowledgeable when it comes to types of piercing, industrial is a bar that goes through the top of your ear, and a tragus is a bar or hoop that goes through the…well, tragus.

Oh, and don't tell my mom, but I also have a tongue piercing. Well, it was under my tongue on that little flap that holds your tongue to the bottom of your mouth – it was called a Frenulum, I think. I went out the summer after 9th grade and got it just because I wanted to have some type of piercing besides in my ears. No one knew about it though, it was my little secret. So hush.

My hair was another one of those weird things about me. It stretched just past my shoulders at the moment and since it was the summer it happened to be a lighter shade of brown. At the moment it was kind of wavy, but at other times it was curly.

One of my things was wearing bandanas in my hair too. I don't really have a reason for doing it, but it's just a part of my style. Oh, and my style is not really having a style. I just buy clothes that I like and manage to throw them together in an outfit.

For example, right now I was wearing a pair of baggy black cargo shorts and a silk-like white tank top with some type of black tree pattern on it, a green cami hugging my torso underneath. My hair was also tied in a high ponytail, a gray bandana rolled up and being used like a headband to keep the small strands of free hair pulled back. I had 4 of my earrings in too; the industrial, tragus, and the 2 cartilage. My tongue piercing never comes out – I'm too afraid trying to get it back in.

"Excuse me, miss."

Blinking, I looked up from my book to find an old man standing at the end of my porch with a smile. He was somewhat tan and had cream colored hair and a goatee. Three lines seemed to stretch down from each of his eyes and two dark spots rested on one of his cheeks. He also had this large red hat, t-shirt, shorts, and some brown sandals on.

"Sorry, did I disturb you?" He questioned at seeing my slightly startled look.

Dog-tagging the corner of the page, I threw my book onto the metal table next to my iPod and quickly turned my music down to an almost inaudible level.

"Ah, no, of course not!" I replied, hopping up from my spot to greet him. His smile returned immediately and I returned the gesture.

"My name is Hiruzen Sarutobi," he said, sticking a hand out towards me. "It's very nice to meet you."

"Aerin," I replied, grasping his hand with my own. "Aerin Grey. Nice to meet you too, Mr. Sarutobi."

"I've been meaning to come down and greet you and your mother for a while," he admitted with a deep chuckle. "I saw you move in a few weeks ago and thought that I'd welcome you to the neighborhood."

I blinked before smiling again. "Well that's a very kinda gesture, sir. I really appreciate the welcome."

He laughed heartily. "You seem like very well mannered young lady. You'll be starting school in a few days, correct?"

I started swaying side to side as I answered. "Yes, I am indeed."

The elder man suddenly raised his hand and flashed me a friendly thumbs up. "Good luck, then!"

I laughed. He was kind of funny. "Thank you."

Turning on his heel the man unexpectedly started to walk away.

"If you've got any trouble with the teachers at the school just tell them you know me," he said, turning back to wink at me as he scuffled down the driveway, hands folded behind his back.

I raised both my eyebrows. "And why is that?"

Mr. Sarutobi chuckled again. "Let's just say I used to rule that school back in the day."

I blinked, eyes widening, and he raised a hand in the air as he started back down the side walk towards where ever it was he lived. "Feel free to come and talk to me if you ever want to chat. Have a good day, now!"

"You too!" I replied with a little wave of my own, watching as he continued away from the property without glancing back. I kept my eyes on him until he turned the corner, disappearing from sight.

Huh…what a weird old man. I laughed.

"So he used to be the principal of Shinobi High?"

He seemed nice enough…hopefully the newer principal had some of his traits.

Sliding around, I grabbed my book off the table. I didn't feel like reading anymore at the moment.

Suddenly, my stomach spoke. Snorting a laugh I placed my free hand atop the sheltered organ, staring down at it with an amused smirk.

"It seems that you have become vacant, my friend."

It rumbled again.

"Don't worry, I shall feed you," I said reassuringly as I grabbed my iPod and book before heading inside.

The house was a lot colder than the outside world. I tended to have the air conditioning blasting a lot.

Setting my belongings on the kitchen table I strode up to the refrigerator, pulling the hinged metal door open. There was some lunch meat, cheese, fruit and other such things residing inside.

I frowned. Nothing really seemed appealing.

"Time to go on an adventure!" I exclaimed, swinging the fridge door shut before heading out of the kitchen and down the hall towards my bedroom.

I flicked the light on as I stepped into the small room, illuminating the area. My bedroom was somewhat modern themed. Two of the walls were red and the other two were a light grayish color. Next to the door was a closet and directly in front of the door, pushed against the parallel wall, was a bed. The closet had two sliding panels which also served as giant mirrors, blocking off the contents inside, and the bed was lined in gray sheets, a black comforter toping it off. Dressers and a few shelves' lined the other two walls.

I took a couple steps to the side and slid one of the panels to the closet open. Inside on the ground were a pile of jumbled shoes. I managed to locate my pair of high-top Converse through the mess and fished them from the rest.

Plopping onto the edge of the bed next to my dresser, I opened the first drawer and retrieved a pair of plain gray ankle socks. I slipped them onto my feet before maneuvering on my shoes. They were red, black and plaid – three of my favorite things all combined into my favorite type of shoe.

Anyway, I put the shoes on grabbed a small black wallet off my dresser and stuffed it in the back pocket of my shorts before heading back out of the room. I wasn't all too into carrying around a purse, so I had a guy wallet. It was so much easier to carry around than a purse when all you needed was money.

Before leaving the house I grabbed my key-ring, iPod and cell phone. I placed my phone in the cargo pocket on my thigh and shoved my iPod and headphones into one of my pockets before taking the key-ring and locking the front door, placing the keys in my pocket when I was done, letting the lanyard attached to it dangle loosely against my thigh as I started away from the house.

I strode down the street and turned the corner, heading left towards the town. As I walked I pulled out my iPod and plugged the headphones in, placing the buds in my ears. I set the music to shuffle and smiled as Again by YUI started to hum inside my head.

It was a Japanese song, but to me, whether a song was in another language didn't really matter. As long as it had a good beat and the lyrics made sense, I'd love it.

The town was about 10 minutes away from my house by foot, so I managed to get through another 3 songs before the large span of buildings and cleanly paved main road came into sight.

As I walked past a bar I pulled my headphones from my ears and shoved them back into my pocket. The town was a lot busier that the suburbs so I didn't want to be deaf to the things going on around me.

I headed past a family diner and a café, but both were packed full of people so I continued on my way. That's usually what happens around dinner time on a Sunday, after all.

I turned another corner and a Chinese restaurant suddenly caught my eye. Smiling to myself I walked up to the building and headed inside. A small, old Asian lady was standing behind the counter up front as I entered and she smiled at me.

"Welcome, what can I help you with today?"

I stopped myself from sprouting a stupid smile when I heard her accent. "I just came to inquire about some carry out."

"Ah, yes," she whipped a pad out of nowhere and pulled a pen from the depths of her black hair. "What is it you want?"

"Just a quart of Wonton please."

She scribbled something down on the pad and stepped out from behind the counter. "It will be just a moment."

"Alright," I replied and leaned against the wall behind me as she shuffled back towards the kitchen.

As I waited I took a moment to survey the restaurant. The place was quite dimly lit and only a few scatter families and couples occupied some of the tables.

All of the sudden I felt as if someone's eyes were on me, and sure enough, some guy sitting _way _back in the corner was staring at me through his small, round glasses. He had some huge coat on so all I could see was his face, not even his hair.

I stared right back at the guy, not knowing why the hell he was even looking at me like that in the first place, but thankfully the old woman returned with my food.

"That'll be $5.20."

I pulled my wallet from my back pocket and pulled out the exact change. I loved how cheap Chinese food was.

"Here you are," I said, placing the money into her hand.

"Thank you for your business," she replied with a smile, handing me my dinner neatly wrapped into a brown paper bag.

"Thank you for the food," I replied with a smirk as I swung around and exited the restaurant.

As I started back towards my house I began to smile at the thought of eating the delicious soup in the bag. However, just as I made it to the corner, a person running in the opposite direction appeared out of nowhere and bumped directly into my side.

I instantly went tumbling to the ground. My butt hit the concrete hard, and my chest started to burn. I realized right away that the soup which had been in my hands must've opened and was now spilling on me.

"Shit!" I cursed and instantly dropped the bag in my hands, starting to brush off the wetness that stained all down the front of my shirt and chest. Thankfully, my boobs weren't all that big, so I didn't need to get a ladle to fish the broth out of my cleavage.

"Oh, crap! Are you okay?!"

"Uh, yeah, I'm okay," I replied as I plucked a noodle from the inside of my bra. The person, who, I'm guessing, had knocked me over, continued to curse himself over and over. Once I had cleaned myself off I took the chance to look up and see who it was.

To my surprise, it was this boy who looked to be around my age. He had this spiky blonde hair that almost looked like bed head and a pair of bright blue eyes. Three lines were etched into each of his cheeks and a blue pendulant hanging from a black string around his neck dangled in front of a loosely worn orange tank top. A blue, sleeveless jacket covered his shoulders atop his shirt and he also wore a pair of plain black shorts and blue Converse.

By the way his shirt fit over his chest you could tell he was quite fit.

"I am _soooooo_ sorry!" He apologized frantically. He started running his hands through his hair. "I don't know why this happened! I was just running and – I didn't expect someone to be there! I just – aaaahhhh! Gosh, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry – believe it!"

I smiled a little. At least you could tell he truly meant it.

"Hey, no worries, dude. I'm just a little scratched up, no biggie."

The guy finally stopped in his worrying and looked down at me with big eyes. "Are you sure?"

I nodded, giggling a bit. "I'm fine."

A smile quickly spread across his lips and he jumped for joy. "Oh, thank god!" He paused a second later and turned, offering me a hand. I took it gratefully.

"I ruined your shirt," he noted after a moment, staring at my stained top and cami with sad eyes.

"Ah, it'll wash out," I assured him, waving a hand nonchalantly. To be honest, I didn't know if it really would, but his puppy eyes were torture.

He began to shrug of his jacket. "Here," he said, holding it out to me. "Wear this. That way you can at least cover up those wet clothes."

I blinked. "Oh, no, you don't have to do that. I'll just go home and change."

He smiled again. "Well, actually I was thinking that I'd take you out to make up for your dinner, which I'm guessing is what's spilled all over the side walk. So if you wanna take it for now…"

I blinked again and squinted my eyes, analyzing him for a moment.

"You're not…hitting on me, are you?"

You should've seen how fast his face got red.

"WHAT?! NO! I mean – no, I wouldn't –! It's just – your clothes are dirty, and your food – it got spilled! So –!"

I started laughing. You could tell he was just one of those really friendly guys who still had a bit of innocence left.

"Alright, alright!" I fined, a smile stretching across my lips as I took the jacket from his hands, shrugging it over my shoulders before zipping it up. "I'll let you make it up to me! Calm down!"

His eyes suddenly became quite twinkly. "Really?!"

I nodded, but held up one finger. "On one condition."

He grinned. "Name it!"

"What is your name?"

If possible, his grinned widened, and he stuck a thumb to his chest proudly. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! And one day I'll be Hokage!"

I raised an eyebrow. "The Hokage?"

"It's the nickname for the principal at our school," Naruto explained. He suddenly blinked. "Hey, you don't look that much older than me, what grade are you in?"

"Eleventh," I replied.

"Really?!" He exclaimed loudly. "Me too!" The blonde leaned in towards me, eyes pinched together. "But if you're in my grade how come I've never seen you before?"

"I just moved here," I replied, rolling my shoulders. "This is my first year."

"Ohhhh, I get it!" He grinned. "Well don't worry; you'll get along with everyone just fine! Anyway, let's go and eat!"

With that he grabbed my wrist and started dragging me back down the road.

"H-Hey!" I exclaimed, surprised by his brash action. He only flashed me a wide smile in return, not stopping for a second. And it was at that moment that I realized I was smiling too.

'_This guy…,' _I thought to myself, staring at his back as I ran a foot behind him. '_He's alright.'_

"This way!" Naruto said, pulling me with him as he turned the corner.

"Where are we even going?" I called back, slightly out of breath.

'_Geez, I need to exercise more…'_

"Ichiraku's!"

"Where is that?"

"Right-," he halted and I stopped beside him, panting a bit. "-here!"

In front of us was this small shop built into a strip of buildings. The name on the banner above the shop was in Japanese, but underneath in English it read "Ichiraku Ramen Shop".

"Ramen?" I questioned, glancing over at Naruto who was looking over the building in glee.

"Aa! This is my favorite place to come and eat," he stated happily. "They have to best ramen ever!" He turned to me, suddenly quite serious. "You like ramen right?"

"Like it? I _love _it." Naruto's joyful attitude returned 100-fold. "Though I've never had _real _ramen, just the stuff you buy from the store."

"Well then come on!" He said, almost skipping to the door. "What are we waiting for?!"

With a laugh I followed behind him. Naruto was just like a kid in a candy shop when it came to ramen, it seemed.

The restaurant was actually kinda tiny on the inside. There were no tables or no booths, just a long bar lined with stools.

"Oi, Mister!" Naruto called, walking up to one of the stools. "You're here, aren't you?!"

There was a deep chuckle and a moment later a man emerged from the doorway to the kitchen.

"Hello there, Naruto," he greeted, smiling at said male. "Long time no see. It's been, what, two days?"

Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Aw, come on. You know I love this place!"

The man laughed again and then looked to me. "And I see you've brought along a friend." He smiled. "Nice to meet you. My name is Teuchi and I own this restaurant."

I returned his smile. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Teuchi. From what I hear, this is the best place in town to get ramen."

"It sure is!" He glanced over at Naruto. "I'm glad that he decided to bring you."

I pursed my lips in a smirk. "Well, he does owe me after all."

Teuchi laughed. "Oh?"

A pink tint took to Naruto's cheeks and he poked the side of his head. "I kinda, accidently, ran into her and ruined her dinner."

Teuchi laughed again. "Well I'm glad you did Naruto, or else I never would've had this fine lady in my restaurant for the first time!"

Naruto and I both laughed at that. I was a little flattered too.

"Come on now, have a seat."

Neither of us argued and took a stool at the counter. I started looked over the menu in front of me while Naruto just hummed contently, kicking his legs back and forth.

Teuchi flipped a pad out of the band around his waist and grabbed a pen of the table behind him. "Now, what can I get you both today?"

"I'll just have my regular," Naruto replied cheerfully.

"And for you, miss?"

'_There are so many different types of ramen on the menu…_'

"Um…I'll just have what he's having," I replied.

"Alright, I'll get right on it," Teuchi stated, smiling once again as he flipped the pad closed and headed back into the kitchen.

"So," I said once he had disappeared from sight. Naruto looked over at me. "It seems like you come here a lot."

"Of course!" he grinned. "This is my favorite place in the whole world!"

I giggled. "So I guess ramen is your favorite food then."

"Haha, believe it!"

I smiled and glanced around the place. It was actually quite cozy despite the size. I liked it.

'_I'm glad I decided to come out to dinner too,_' I decided, glancing over at a still ecstatic Naruto. It was a nice change to talk to someone. Mr. Teuchi and Sarutobi included.

"Hey, hey!"

I glanced over at Naruto who was now staring at me with curious, wide eyes. "I just realized that I never got your name."

I blinked. I never did tell him my name.

"Aerin," I told him, smiling a bit.

"Erin," he repeated.

I nodded, but paused. "Though, just for future reference. It's pronounced 'Erin' but it really has an A in the front."

"So, you mean like A-E-R-I-N?" He spelt out. I nodded. "Well that's a bit weird," he laughed. "But I like it."

"Me too," I agreed. And I really did. It was unique, and I liked that.

"Here you are, kids!"

Teuchi stepped out from the kitchen with two bowls of steaming ramen in his hands. Naruto was practically bouncing in his seat, mouth watering as he brought them over and set the bowls in front of us on the counter.

Naruto had his chopsticks out of the wrappings in seconds and was already digging in, splattering the broth everywhere as he slurped the long noodles into his mouth.

I blinked in surprise, not thinking that it was humanly possible for someone to eat food that fast. I guess I was wrong in assuming that.

The bowl of ramen in front of was filled with all sorts of things I had never seen before – these little white and pink swirly things…and some kind of meat and half an egg.

I was a little scared to try it. But I was hungry, goddamit. I needed food.

"Itadakimasu," I murmured to no one in particular, stabbing my chopsticks into the noodles and bringing them to my mouth.

…

Holy…shit.

"This is fucking amazing," I stated staring at my bowl in awe. From behind the counter Teuchi chuckled and I quickly added in, "excuse my French."

He waved a hand, blowing it off. "Nothing I haven't heard before. I'm just glad you like it."

I opened my mouth to reply to him, but I was cut off when Naruto slammed his bowl – his empty bowl – on the table.

"Another bowl, mister!"

I stared at the blonde in utter surprise. He had just slurped that entire thing down and now he wanted another? I didn't even know if I'd_ make_ it to the end of my bowl, that's how much food there was inside.

"I know, I know," Teuchi replied with a chuckled, heading back to the kitchen and appearing a moment later with another bowl. "It's never just one."

"Arigatou!" Naruto thanked him, before stuffing his mouth with noodles once again.

As he did so I started to get to work on my own bowl. I felt a little behind considering I had barely even started.

There was no way to compete with Naruto though. Not when it came to eating ramen. He had eaten 4 bowls in the time I had eaten one, and I wasn't even sure that I'd be able to make it home, that's how full I was. I'm not a dainty eater either.

When the two of us finished Naruto paid for the food. We both thanked Mr. Teuchi for the meal and he was delighted.

"Come back soon, you two. Especially you, Miss Aerin."

"Will do!" I replied back, throwing him a final wave as the both of us headed out the door. The sun was already beginning to set.

Least to say, the walk home was at a much slower pace than on the way there.

"Oh god," I sighed, placing a hand over my stomach. "If I eat anything else I think I might be sick."

Naruto laughed. "Yeah, it's a bit to take in at first."

I glanced over at him, my mouth forming half a smirk. "Thank you for treating."

"Hey, no problem!" he replied with a smile. "Hopefully that made up for your dinner."

"Oh trust me," I said, patting my stomach once again. "It did. Definitely."

Naruto laughed in return.

The two of us continued down the road in a comfortable silence. Only as we headed into the suburbs surrounding the town did I ask him where he lived.

"Oh, my house is a few more blocks up the road. What about you?"

"I live on the next block actually," I replied, watching as the corner came closer into sight.

Naruto smiled. "It's cool that you live so close to the town and the beach."

"But you live closer to the school, right?"

He nodded. "Yep! It's around a 5 minute walk between the school and my house."

"I bet that comes in handy," I grinned. "That way if you're ever running late you can just run."

The blonde laughed. "That actually brings back a few memories, you saying that."

"What?" I smiled widely. "You've actually had to do that before?"

"Hey! I swear that there's a troll in my room that sabotages my alarm!"

I laughed loudly. Sometimes I thought the same thing.

Suddenly, we were standing at the corner of my block, and stopped.

"Well…I guess this is goodbye," I said, sending him a small smile. Naruto returned it with an even bigger one.

"Hold on," he dug through the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a cell phone. He handed it to me. "Put your number in!"

I blinked in surprise, looking down at the orange cased phone in my hands. "Really?"

"Why do you look so surprised?" He laughed. "We're friends; of course I want your number!"

Friends…

With a small, nostalgic smile, I input my contact information in his phone before handing it back to him.

"There you are."

"Sweet!" he replied before unexpectedly beginning to sprint back up the road. "I'll text you later!"

"See ya!" I called after him, and he sent me one last smile and wave before turning and running again.

I started back towards my house after that. It had been a good day. Probably the best day I've had since moving here.

A minute later I stepped up onto the porch of my house and pulled my keys from my pocket. The door opened easily when I turned the key and I stepped inside onto the landing, kicking off my shoes.

Not knowing what to do really, I headed out into the family room and plopped onto the couch, rolling my face into the pillow. I always got tired after eating a big meal.

However, just as I started to doze off, my pocket vibrated.

I flipped over to get my phone from my pocket. An unknown number was on the screen but the message made it pretty clear who it was.

**7:01 PM**

**Believe it! It's me! :D**

Smiling to myself I saved Naruto's number in my contacts before snuggling my face into the pillow again.

'_I made my first friend…_'

Boy, that sounded like something an elementary school student would say. But it was true; Naruto was the first person who considered me his friend in this town. And I was glad.

It was at that moment I realized I was still wearing his jacket.

"Shit," I cursed and took it off before heading to my room and chucking the clothes that I had dirtied into the laundry basket. "I forgot about his jacket…"

I shrugged after internally debating what to do for a moment.

"He'll get it back sooner or later."

I was sure I'd be seeing him again.

* * *

**Yay, I finally got this up! :D You all have no idea how hard I've been working to get this up. I've been typing it up for the last week because I procrastinate and I had 3 tests to study this week.**

**Oh, I got a 95 on my Chemistry test on Stoichiomerty! :D HELL YEAH.**

**Anyway, hopefully you readers like the story so far :) I know that it hasn't progressed too far yet, but it'll get there. I promise.**

**So, if you like it, feel free to give it a favorite or a follow or whatever XD And reviews are much appreciated. I'd love to hear some feedback.**

**I'm willing to take on idea's too. Like if someone has an idea for a chapter later on or as Aerin starts to meet all of the characters you want something thrown in between the two of them I'd be open to it. I don't really think I'm going to have a set pairing, but I'm not quite sure. (I said that about my other story too in the beginning but look what happened.)**

**That's about it for now. Have a good night!**

**Please review! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...but Sasuke does.**

**BAM.**

* * *

You know what really sucks sometimes? That fact that I'm an early waker. I don't know what the definition of an early waker was either, but 7:30 was pretty damn early to me.

I tossed and turned for a while, soaking in the warmth that had built up under my light layer of sheets throughout the night. My brain refused to go back into hibernating however, so I ended up throwing an arm across my forehead, staring at the ceiling aimlessly.

"School starts tomorrow…," I said aloud, my voice coming out as wisps of broken sound.

I reached over to the dresser beside my bed and plucked the half empty water bottle from atop the coaster there. Twisting the cap off, I held the bottle to my lips and nearly choked as the room temperature liquid poured down into my throat, some diverging into the path towards my lungs. My body instinctively shot up right and I coughed out what little water had invaded my air pipe.

"Great way to start off the day," I mumbled, falling back onto the pillow.

Rolling over, I put the water back onto the dresser before sighing and throwing the covers off of my body. Might as well get up at this point.

The wooden floor creaked under my weight as my feet touched it, and I slowly started towards the closed door, maneuvering past anything in my way. After opening the door I headed out into the family room and stretched out on one of the couches.

I turned on the TV and put on the news since nothing good was ever on in the morning. The reporters on the screen were saying something depressing about how yet another innocent person had been murdered in an unfair chain of events.

I sighed. It was always like that.

"Well," I sat up and lightly smacked myself in the side of my face before cracking a small smile, trying to get into a better mood. "It's time for breakfast!"

I ended up making pancakes. Chocolate chip pancakes to be exact.

They took about 10 minutes to make and when I ate them it was like my taste buds were making love. Chocolate _was_ a girl's best friend.

Anyway, after that I scuffled back into my bedroom and started picking through my drawers to find what it was I would be wearing today. I settled on a pair of black mid-thigh length jean shorts, and a blue and white striped t-shirt. I then flipped on a black beanie, trying to hide my partial bed-head and placed a simple chain around my neck, a small metal leaf hanging from it.

Looking in the mirror, I made sure all of the components of my outfit worked together before heading into the bathroom to brush my teeth.

Knowing that it was the day before school would begin; I began to realize that I had no supplies at all. No pencils, folders, nothing.

"I think it's time to go shopping," I stated, placing my toothbrush back in its holder before skipping into the kitchen. It was only 8:30 at that point, so I wasted some time by playing some video games. I _loved_ video games. Sonic and Mario games were my shit. I liked Assassins Creed and Black Ops too, but animated type games were my favorite.

So, I popped Sonic Heroes into the PS2 hooked up to the TV and started replaying some of the levels that I had already beaten. An hour easily flew past while I was gaming. The next time I looked up it was 9:45. Stores should have opened by then.

Saving my progress, I shut off the game and the TV before heading into the kitchen and slipping on a pair of black gladiator flats that had been lying on the landing. My wallet was sitting back in my room so I casually went and got it before grabbing my key ring and heading into the garage.

Inside the dimly lit space rested a red 2008 Ford Focus. It had been my dad's car originally, but had been passed onto me right after I had gotten my driver's license. Usually I wouldn't drive because walking helps burn calories because I'm not the healthiest eater, but going shopping was one of those instances where I needed the car. It would've been challenging to carry bag around with me everywhere.

So, I hopped into the driver's seat and popped the keys into the ignition. The engine revved to life when I turned the key, and I opened the garage door before carefully backing out of the drive way.

The ride into town was a lot quicker this time, and I easily located an office supply store.

After parking I climbed out of my car and headed into the store. Not too many people were there…because most people wouldn't wait till the day school starts to go and get supplies.

Shut up. I know I'm stupid.

Anyway, I grabbed a small basket from the rack placed next to the enterance and started roaming the isles. Almost all the shelves were cleared out by this time so I took what I could get.

I grabbed a pack of yellow number two pencils, a 2-pack of mechanical pencils and some 0.9 lead and tossed them into my basket. I needed 0.9 lead to write because I pressed so hard against the paper. Usually when I took notes in class you could see them imprinted onto the next page.

On that note, I grabbed some spare erasers and a pack of pens before searching for the folders and notebooks. I found them a minute or so later, a few more isles down the row, but then I had another problem. Two dudes were blocking the entire walk way.

"I'm telling you, Itachi, I _had_ folders and stuff, but I can't find 'em anywhere!"

"Hn…"

I stared at the two curiously. They didn't look too much older than me, but what really got was the fact that one of them was _blue,_ and not only that but he must've been 6 foot 7 at _least._ This guy just screamed crazy. Sure, he was pretty good looking at the same time; he definitely had some abs hidden under the giant black shirt he was wearing, but blue skin _and _blue hair? And were those gills tattooed onto his face?

The other male, however, looked completely normal. He had raven hair which was tied into a loose pony tail, the rest dangling around the sides of his face, and two lines creasing either of his checks. He wasn't as tall as the blue guy either, maybe only a few inches taller than me, and I was 5 ft 7. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was the fact that he had these trippy red contacts lens in.

It was at that moment that I realized they were staring back at me. I blinked once, but did not avert my eyes. The two males didn't waver either until the black haired one jabbed the blue skinned guy in the ribs with his elbow.

"I believe we are blocking the way, Kisame."

"Uh, yeah," the other guy nodded and quickly grabbed an armful of folders from the shelf. The two then shuffled around me, our eyes still curiously locked, and headed to somewhere else. Once they were gone I blinked again and shook my head, not exactly knowing what had just occurred.

"Better not over think it," I mumbled to myself as I stepped up to where the two had been standing moments before. Thankfully, there were still a decent amount of folders left, so I grabbed enough to satisfy each class period before traveling farther down the row to grab a couple of notebooks. Once grabbing those items I headed to the front to pay.

I didn't see the two guys again either as I was leaving; they seemed to have vanished to someplace else. That wasn't a problem with me though.

Anyway, after buying school supplies I headed back to my car and ended up just leisurely driving through town. I ended up stopping at a strip of clothing stores. Going school shopping technically entailed shopping for clothes as well, right?

I parked in one of the back lots before heading back around to the front of the stores. The Forever 21 instantly caught my attention so I ended up heading inside. Not too many people were there because, well, you know, back to school was pretty much done by now, but I liked it better that way, even if there were less items to choose from.

I wandered through the store for a while, plucking some items that I liked off the racks and folding them over my arm. After I had gathered a few shirts and pants I scuffed back to the fitting rooms.

"Alright, what's first?" I said to myself while hanging the clothing in my arms on a nearby hook. I settled on a white top with black stripped lace on the front and pulled my own shirt off before putting the new one on over my head.

It fit perfectly and I smiled to myself, twirling around a bit. I had never been the most self-confident person. In middle school I had actually gotten teased on the fact that I was always a bit bigger than everyone else. Luckily, however, before high school started I had hit a growth spurt and the weigh evened itself out.

I wasn't the perfect size 2 model either. When I went shopping I'd usually by medium or large sized items, but I was completely fine with it.

Trying on the rest of the few shirts and pants that I had picked out, I put my own clothes back on before deciding what it was I would get.

"These," I decided, holding up a pair of red skinny jeans with zipper pockets on either leg. "And these," I continued, pulling the original white and black tank I had tried on as well as a see-through, shoulder-less white shirt.

I then situated my black beanie back onto my head before gathering all of the clothes I had brought into the dressing room. As I opened the door to the stall however, I nearly stumbled back in shock.

Standing right outside of the door was a black haired male. He was very well dressed. A crimson shirt with the first few buttons undone covered his torso and tucked into a pair of dark black jeans which had a pair of white suspenders dangling from them. His hair had a dark navy tint to it in the light, the back of it flaring out wildly, and his solid onyx eyes boredly stared into mine.

"Need help with anything?" He questioned, voice sounding extremely uninterested despite the fact that he was trying to help me. It was then that I noticed the tag dangling from a lanyard around his neck, symbolizing he was a worker at the store.

"Uh," I staggered, his steady stare freaking me out. I forced a small smile. "No thanks, I can handle it."

His eyebrow almost unnoticeably raised, but he said nothing else, simply turning around and heading somewhere else.

Once he was gone I stepped out of the fitting room and placed the garments I didn't want on the discard rack before heading up to the front to pay.

"That'll be $52.04," the college age girl behind the counter stated after scanning my items. I pulled my wallet out from my back pocket and flipped it open, handing her my credit card. Since I didn't have an endless supply of cash my mother had issued me a credit card to use when needed. She wasn't worried that I'd use it irresponsibly, so I was usually never questioned when I had to use it.

"Here you are," she said, handing me back my card while bagging my newly bought clothes. I shoved the card back into my wallet before taking the handles of the large, white plastic bag from her.

"Thanks," I replied with a smiled before exiting the store and heading back to my car. I threw the bag into the back seat with the other things I had bought before sliding into the front seat.

Starting the engine, I back out of the parking space before shifting into drive and steering towards the road. As I traveled through the town I tried to think of anywhere else I needed to stop, but my mind came up blank so just headed back home. I pulled into the driveway of my house a few minutes later and grabbed the bags from the back seat before locking the car and heading inside.

By that point a few hours had passed and it was now noon. Deciding that it was time for lunch I set my bags on the ground next to the kitchen table before pulling out a pan from one of the cupboards next to the stove. I turned the burner on after setting the pan down and then danced over to the fridge, plucking the butter and cheese from its depths.

"Grilled cheese~," I hummed randomly while setting the ingredients in my hands on the counter before pulling a square of paper towel from the roll nearby while also grabbing the loaf of wheat bread.

I then did the necessary steps needed to make grilled cheese and buttered the bread and unwrapped the cheese before slapping it onto the heated pan. The butter instantly began to sizzle at touching the hot metal, and I smiled for no reason.

"Time for music!"

I skipped out into the family room and hooked my iPod up the stereo system. Putting the device I shuffle I started to rock out when Battle of One by 30 Seconds to Mars began blasting from the speakers.

"Tryyyyyyyyyy annnnnddd sttttoooooooppppp mmmeeeeeeeee!" I sang along with the song. "Trrryyyyyyyyyy aaannnnnnddddd saaaaavvvveeeeee meeeeeeeee!"

I'll admit that I'm not the best singer, but I wasn't tone deaf, nor could I not keep beat. And those were the two things that actually made you semi-good.

I headed back over to the stove, the music continuing on, and pulled a spatula from one of the drawers before flipping the half-cooked sandwich.

Two minutes later my lunch was done, so I grabbed a plate and flipped the steaming meal onto it before placing it on the table.

Before sitting down I grabbed a bag of Doritos from atop the fridge and the milk from inside of it. I set the Doritos on the table next my plate and grabbed a glass from the cupboard, pouring myself some milk before putting it back into the fridge and settling down at the table to eat my food.

As I did so the tune coming from the stereo switched to Miss Murder by AFI and I started headbanging despite the fact that it probably wasn't the smartest idea considering that I was eating…but whatever!

Since I was a pretty quick eater it only took me a good 5 minutes to clear my plate, so I chucked all of my garbage into the trash and put all my dishes into the sink.

For a moment I stared around the kitchen and family room. I didn't really know what to do.

"Better pack my bag," I remembered and started searching for my backpack. I found it a few minutes later in the second bedroom and dragged it out into the kitchen.

My bag wasn't a typical backpack, but something more like a tan, Indian looking backpack-satchel.

I grabbed the bag full of school supplies that I had bought and scattered them out onto the table. Opening the packs of pencils and pens, I snatched the green pencil holder that I had gotten a few years ago from inside my backpack and shoved a few of each writing utensil inside. After that I picked up my new folders and shoved them inside the bag, doing the same with my notebooks.

Once making sure that everything I needed was inside the bag I zipped it closed and carried it back into the room where it was before.

Since that was now done, I headed out into the family room and decided to watch a movie. I rummaged through the numerous cases underneath the TV and, after a minute, settled on the first Pirates of the Caribbean.

I popped the DVD into the disc player before plopping onto the couch and grabbing the remote.

After bypassing the commercials and previews for all of the movies that had already come out, I started the movie.

My favorite part of watching these movies was Jack Sparrow. Beside the fact that he was played by the wonderful Johnny Depp, Jack Sparrow was a _marvelous _character. He was just funny, yet at the same time badass. I loved it.

However, after getting about half way through the movie my head suddenly began to feel quite drowsy and it didn't take long for my mind to drift off into dream land.

…

…

When I woke up it was 5 o'clock. My first thought was the fact that I had to pee, so I rolled of the couch and headed to the bathroom. After taking care of my business I walked into the kitchen and picked up the bag of clothes that I head left there and carried them back to my room.

Setting them on the wooden floor next to my bed I stepped up to one of my dressers and picked up the 6 small black studs sitting there. I then proceeded to place the studs into the piercings in my ears respectively, 3 going into the lobes on either side of my face. With those 6 in, all of my piercing were now filled.

I glanced around the room for another minute before sighing.

"I'm bored…"

And just as I said that, my pocket began to vibrate.

I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and blinked when I saw the caller ID.

"Hello?" I said, holding the device up to my ear after pressing talk.

"_Hey, Aerin_!"

I smiled to myself. "Hey there, Naruto. Wassup?"

He laughed. "_Nothing much, I was just wondering if you wanted to come over to my place and hang out for a while. We've got pizza and stuff_!"

"Uh, yeah," I replied. "That sounds great."

"_Awesome_!" He responded.

"Does it matter when I come?"

"_Not really_," he laughed. "_As long as you make it here_."

"Speaking of that," I replied with a smirk. "I don't know where you live, Naruto."

"_Ah, that's right! Um, I'll send you a text with my address, alright_?"

"Yeah, that's fine!"

"_Cool! I'll see you later then_!"

"Yeah," I replied, "See you!"

With that I ended the call and not a second later did I receive a text from Naruto.

**Come here! **It said, his address listed underneath it.

"Well, alright then," I hummed to myself, spinning towards the bathroom. I washed my teeth again just for the heck of it, and then headed back to my room to spray myself with some nice smelling body stuff.

After making sure I still looked decent in the mirror I skipped out into living room and shut off the TV before grabbing my keys off the counter. I shoved them into my pocket and did the same with my wallet.

Slipping the sandals that I had been wearing back on I made sure that I had everything I needed. Once satisfied that I did, I left the house, being sure to lock it behind me, and started towards the end of the block.

Since all I had was Naruto's address I had to try and follow the path that I had seen him take yesterday to at least get somewhere near my destination.

I walked for about 15 minutes before finding the street that he lived on. I looked left down the street to see which way the addresses increased or decreased and then turned right instead, that being the way I most likely need to get to Naruto's house. And, after another 5 minutes of wandering, I finally made it there.

His house was actually pretty big – well, bigger than mine. It was two stories and the property seemed a bit larger as well.

I headed up the walkway to the porch after a moment of hesitation and rang the doorbell. A few seconds later a man a bit taller than myself opened the door. He had spiky blonde hair that was longer than Naruto's and also had the same blue eyes.

"Hello," he greeted with a smile. "You must be the girl Naruto mentioned." He stuck out a hand. "I'm his father, Minato."

With a smile of my own I grasped his hand. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Uzumaki."

He laughed lightly. "It's Namikaze, actually, but you can just call me Minato."

"But that's so awkward," I whined and he laughed again.

"You'll get used to it." He stepped aside and made a motion for me to enter. "Come on in."

I entered the house and glanced around the warmly lit space. I really was a nice place.

"Honey, is someone here?" A female voice called from the other room.

"Yes, Naruto's friend just arrived!" Minato called back, and a moment later a crimson haired lady wearing a green dressed emerged from out of the doorway to the kitchen.

"Hello," she said with a smile. "I'm Naruto's mother, Kushina. It's very nice to meet you miss…"

"Aerin!" I quickly replied with a smile. "It's nice to meet you as well."

Her smile suddenly morphed into something a bit more evil. "Aerin…you're not planning to do anything with my little boy, are you?"

I blinked in surprise, but before I could even get my mouth open Minato placed a hand on my back and hurriedly started to usher me up the stairs.

"Naruto's room is the last on the right," he said simply while continuing to push me. I only nodded and jogged up the stair case, not wanting to stick around a moment longer.

"Kushina!" I heard Minato say in a harsh whisper as climbed the last step. "You can't always interrogate girls when they come into the house!"

"Well how am I supposed to know what they're planning to do with Naruto!?" She shot back in the same tone.

I heard Minato sigh. "They're just his friends, love. You did this with Sakura for years and clearly nothing has happened between the two of them. This is no different."

Kushina sighed back but I didn't stick around to hear the rest of the conversation.

I turned the hall and walked up to the last door on the right. It was partially ajar, so I knocked on it twice before pushing it open.

"I'm here!" I announced with a smile while entering. The first thing I noticed that Naruto's room was all kinds of blue and orange. The second thing I noticed was Naruto sitting on a black bean on the ground, once again wearing items of clothing that matched the color of his room. And the third thing I noticed was the male I had seen at Forever 21 earlier sitting in a computer chair on the other side of the room. He looked exactly the same as I had seen him earlier except for the fact that he now had on a black tank top.

"You," I said simply, staring at him. He only raised an eyebrow back and replied the same.

"You."

"Me!" Naruto joined in happily from his spot. I laughed and Sasuke only turned to stare at him.

"You guys seemed surprised to see each other," Naruto observed, staring between the two of us. "Have you met before?"

"Actually yeah," I responded, glancing at the navy haired male from the corner of my eye. "I ran into him earlier while shopping at –"

"We ran into each other in town today," the male quickly interrupted, quickly shooting me a hard look that screamed 'say nothing more'. "I'm Sasuke," he added in after a moment. "Sasuke Uchiha."

"Aerin," I replied, still staring at him a bit curiously. "Aerin Grey."

"Hn…"

Naruto straightened up and stared between us with a wide smile. "Well, Aerin, now you have met my best friend, Sasuke."

"Best friend," I repeated, cooing. "Aww, how sweet."

Sasuke sent me an annoyed glare but Naruto's smile only widened. "So where'd you guys meet in town?" the blond questioned further while grabbing a slice of pizza from the cardboard box beside him.

"Uhh," I looked back to Sasuke who was once again giving me a hard stare.

"We saw each other at the supply store this afternoon," he lied, and Naruto narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.

"But don't you work on the weekends, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha twitched ever so slightly at the accusation and Naruto instantly jumped up from his seat.

"Oh my god!" He yelled pointing a finger at me. "You met Sasuke at work!"

I blinked in surprise and Sasuke started to rub his temples, sighing in annoyance.

"Where does he work?!" Naruto loudly asked, grabbing me by the shoulders. "Where? Where?"

"Uh, Forever 21," I answered after a moment.

Naruto stopped moving for a minute before rolling back onto the ground laughing. Sasuke started to glare at him, eyebrow twitching in annoyance.

"Forever 21!" the blonde laughed. "That's a girl's store!"

"Actually it has guy's clothes too," I put in, but hushed myself when Sasuke sent his glare my way.

"You had to tell him," he mumbled, continuing to rub his temples while Naruto's laughter still echoed throughout the room.

"What was I supposed to do?" I shot back defensively. Sasuke only sighed again and after a moment, kicked Naruto when he wouldn't stop laughing.

"So was this supposed to be a secret?" I asked while heading over to the bed, snatching a piece of pizza on my way.

"Supposedly," Naruto replied, situating himself back onto his bean bag. "He refused to tell me cuz' he thought I would come bother him or something."

Sasuke glared at him, but after a moment cracked a smirk. "Too bad I don't work during the school year, so now you can't."

"Dammit!" Naruto cursed, running his hands through his messy locks. I laughed at him.

"So, what's the plan for tonight?" I asked curiously.

Naruto shrugged and started munching on pizza again. "I dunno. Sasuke said something about going to see a movie."

"Hn. We should go and see Mama," he specified.

I tensed at hearing the movie name. I was _not _a fan of horror films.

"M-Maybe we should go and see something else," Naruto said, his thoughts seeming to be the same as mine.

"I like that idea!" I agreed immediately.

Sasuke looked between the two of us and then rolled his eyes. "You're both pussies."

"Hey!" Naruto protested. I just stayed silent because I knew that I was.

Sasuke smirked. "Then go and see the movie."

Naruto seemed to internally struggle with that but after a few seconds pumped his fist in the air. "I will see that movie! Believe it!"

I raised my hand. "I already know that I'm a wuss, so do I have to see it?"

Sasuke stared at me. "Yes."

"Awwww…"

"But you may take a pillow," he added in after a moment and I brightened up, grabbing the pillow that rested on the bed beside me.

"Yay, pity!" I cheered and Sasuke cracked a smirk, rolling his eyes. Naruto however, was starting to look like a kicked puppy.

"Can I have a pillow too?"

"No," Sasuke replied without a thought and the blonde flopped over onto the floor in a depressed heap. I giggled at the sight but Sasuke only stood from his spot and walked over to his friend, jabbing him in the side with his foot.

"Come on, you idiot," he said. "We need to go now."

Naruto instantly jumped up, his bright personality once again shinning. "Well, then let's go!" He grabbed a set of keys off the dresser before skipping from the room. Sasuke and I both followed after him.

"Bye mom! Bye dad!" He called as we headed through the foyer towards the front door.

"Bye honey, be safe!" Kushina called back from the other room.

"I will!" Naruto responded before the three of us exited the house.

Once outside, the blonde lead us towards the street where an aged, orange car rested.

"Of course it's orange," I mumbled and Naruto turned his head back to grin at me.

Running around to the driver's side, Naruto hopped into the driver's seat, and Sasuke hopped into the back seat, leaving me to sit next to Naruto as the passenger.

Once we were all situated Naruto started the car and we took off towards the town. As we traveled the blonde turned the radio on and Thrift Shop by Macklemore had just started.

Naruto and I instantly started to rock out, singing along with the song.

"I'm gonna pop some tags, only got twenty dolla's in my pocket!" We chorused, dancing around stupidly.

From the back seat I could see Sasuke sigh and begin to rub his temples once again and I grinned as the blonde and I continued to jam with the song. We did so until the song ended, and by then we were already pulling into a parking spot next to the movie theatre.

"Aww, Sasuke's feels so lucky to be hanging out with us," I teased as we got out of the vehicle. Naruto laughed, but Sasuke only glared at me.

"I fucking hate you both."

This time I laughed as well, and the three of us continued around to the front of the block before stepping up to the small movie theatre. The reason it was small was because it was one of those small town movie theatres that only had two screens and played a few movies each week. I liked it better that way though.

"Three tickets to Mama," the navy haired Uchiha said to the lady behind the counter and she nodded, getting our slips of paper. Before we went into our theatre Naruto ordered a large popcorn and Sasuke got a small. I opted for none since I knew I'd be hiding behind Naruto's pillow the entire time.

Once that was taken care of we went into where the movie would be showing and slid into seats in the middle of an isle a few rows from the back. Commercials and movie previews rolled by for a few minutes, but soon enough the movie started.

And let me just say this. It is a bad idea to sit next to Naruto when he's got popcorn during a scary movie, because that shit flies _everywhere._

…

…

"I can't believe…you made me see that," I said, holding Naruto's pillow to my chest tightly as we headed back towards the car.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, smirking ever so slightly. "You didn't even watch. Your face was in that pillow the entire time."

"But I could hear things, man!" I hissed back. "I could _hear things_."

He rolled his eyes again. "At least Naruto proved himself."

I glanced back at the blonde walking drearily behind us. "But now he's traumatized."

Sasuke shrugged. "That's alright because I already snatched his car keys." He pulled the sliver keys from his pocket and dangled them in the air.

We arrived at the car a minute later and I climbed in the front next to Sasuke while Naruto, slunk into the back seat, flopping onto his side.

Sasuke and I didn't think too much of it though, and only pulled out of the lot, heading back towards the suburbs.

"You want me to drop you off at your place?" He asked as we traveled out of town.

"Uh, yeah, sure," I replied. It was already dark out after all. "Thanks."

"Hn," he responded. "Where do you live?"

"A few streets up and to the right."

We drove for another few minutes before I directed him to turn, and a moment later we pulled into the driveway.

"Thanks for the ride," I said while popping open the door. Sasuke nodded and I glanced in the back at Naruto. "And thanks for inviting me over Naruto."

The blonde mumbled something into the seat and I snorted a laugh at him.

"See you tomorrow," Sasuke suddenly said as I was closing the door. I smiled.

"Yep, see ya."

And with that I shut the door and headed up the porch towards the front door. Sasuke backed out of the drive way and just as I was unlocking the door my name was yelled. I turned around and saw Naruto hanging out of the back window, waving at me.

"Bye Aerin!" He yelled. "See ya tomorrow!"

"Bye Naruto!" I called back with a wave of my own and the two then drove out of sight.

I laughed to myself as I stepped inside the house. Naruto and Sasuke were so different, but at the same time their friendship worked.

"They'd be a cute gay couple," I said to myself, bursting out laughing a moment later.

As if that would ever happen.

* * *

**And it never will.**

**Hi :D**

**It is 10 in the morning, and this is what I have been doing since I woke up a few hours ago. I was gonna try to get it done yesterday, but we ended up going out to eat with my dad's family, and then when I got back I was too tired from eating food to do anything else.**

**Though I swear that was THE BEST QUESADILLA THAT I'VE EVER FUCKING HAD. I'm not even lying. It was amazing.**

**Anywho, it's Monday, but I have no school because of Martin Luther King Jr Day! :D So I'm sure a lot of you guys don't either. **

**I have to do homework though *sad face* So I'll be doing that sometime today. But I also told my dad that the two of us will be going out to lunch today, and he had no objections. **

**Though I'll admit that I'm kinda scared because it was snowing earlier and I haven't really driven in snow yet. (And I have to drive because my dad can't since he's had brain surgery and is subject to seizures and stuff) But I'm sure I'll do fine :P**

**I just ate toast and strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast too :) My mom was leaving and told me "Lauren you need to eat the strawberries in the fridge or they're gonna rot soon!" And was smart reply was "Wait, we have strawberries?" So I'll probably end up making some smoothies as well today.**

**Anyway, I think I'm gonna go and change out of my pajama's and then maybe watch some more Shane Dawson video's :D**

**See ya on the flip side!**

**Please review! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

Once again, the morning wake up was not an enjoyable time. Not because I choked on water and had to cough it from my lungs – that did happen, thankfully. Though, compared to that event I guess this wake up couldn't be considered too bad.

My alarm went off at 6:15 AM. Actually, it was probably more like 6:10 because I set my clock a few minutes early – but that's not the point.

I woke with ease, skipping the water this time around. My body automatically sat up off the bed and then slumped forward as my still half asleep eyes bore into the wooden door on the other side of the room.

Today was the first day of the new school year.

Dandy.

With a sigh I rolled out of bed, shut off my alarm and then exited the room. I shuffled into the bathroom without a thought and turned on the shower. Once the water was acceptably boiling, I stripped off my top and shorts before stepping under the steaming liquid.

After shampooing and rinsing the bubbles out of my hair I only stood there with my eyes closed and let the water create a beat on the top of my head. I usually wasn't one to get stressed out about the first day of school or doing anything new or uncomfortable, but…

I patted the side of my face with my hand and opened my eyes.

"I'll be fine," I assured myself with a small smile. _'I already know Naruto and Sasuke after all…'_

With that small, but reassuring thought on my mind I finished up my shower.

After turning the water off I wrapped my hair in a towel and then dried my body off with another. When my skin was dry I pulled the towel from atop my head off and began brushing my hair with a pick that was sitting on the counter nearby.

"Ow," I said when the brush snagged a giant knot, yanking my head to one side. "Damn hair," I breathed, trying to work through the bundle I was holding.

It eventually gave way and after all the tangles were gone I set the brush down and grabbed the bundle of clothes I had discarded before shuffling back into my room. I threw my pajamas into the bin in my closet and stood there for a moment, debating what it was that I should wear today.

After I moment I snatched a pair of dark blue jeans from the hanger and threw them onto the bed, scooting over to the dress so that I could put on undergarments first. Once that was taken care of I pulled the pants up over my legs then opened another drawer, pulling the white and black lace top that I had bought just yesterday from it.

Slipping the top over my head, I ran a hand through my hair and then exited the room, heading to the kitchen. By now it was already 6:50 so I popped a bagel into the toaster and then stepped into the family room and flicked on the TV. The news was on once again and the two newscasters were talking about how school would be starting back up again today.

When the toaster popped back up, signaling that my bagel was now toasted, I headed back into the kitchen, stopping at the fridge along the way to grab the butter. And once the fattening yet delicious substance had melted onto the warm bread I sat down at the table to eat. My butt hadn't been on the seat for more than a second however, before I stood once again and headed back over to my fridge.

"Orange juice," I said for no reason as I pulled said carton from the appliance, grabbing a glass from the cupboard and filling it with the citric liquid.

With that settled I finally got comfortable in my seat at the table and began to eat my bagel. In the background I could hear the newscasters still talking, but otherwise the house was peacefully quiet.

For a while I just started off into the distance, daydreaming about what the school would be like and hoping that not all the people there would be assholes. Because listen – even if you befriend the good people, the assholes will always be there.

"Ow!" I cursed and looked down at my finger, which I had somehow just managed to bite. I blinked. "Where the fuck did my bagel go?" I looked under the table and then started at the piece of paper towel it had been on. "Did I really eat it already…? But…it's only been like 2 minutes…," I glanced over at the clock on the wall and then blinked again.

7:10

"Goddamn, daydreaming takes up time," I said, rolling my paper towel into a ball and throwing it into the trash bin before downing the rest of my orange juice.

According to an email I had gotten from the school administration a week or so ago, the first hour of the day started at 7:45, and it was recommended that students always get there 15 minutes early. But since I was a new student and had just moved here, I'd need to go in earlier to be able to get my schedule.

Quickly, I shuffled back into my room and grabbed a pair of socks lying nearby. I pulled them over my feet and then dove into my closet, plucking my plaid converse from their depths. After securing them on my feet I snagged my keys and wallet from my on top of my dresser and shoved them into my pants pockets.

"Teeeeeeth," I said, jogging to the bathroom and picking up my toothbrush.

After brushing my teeth I popped back into my room for a second to grab a black headband and slipped it onto my head on my way back to the kitchen. I hefted my still light backpack up off the floor next to the kitchen table and positioned it over my shoulders, looking around the house one last time to make sure that everything was turned off and in place. Once satisfied that everything was good, I walked out into the garage and slid into my car.

Apparently there was a parking lot for any students that drove (just like any other school), and since I didn't have an abundance of time I decided that it'd be a better idea to drive than walk. Especially considering that since Naruto lives at least 10 minutes down the road and school was a mile farther from that, it'd take me at least 15 minutes to walk there. I needed to be there in 5.

I started the car and threw my bag into the backseat while opening the garage. Shifting into reverse, I backed out of the driveway and started towards the direction of the school. Along the way I noticed a few other teenagers walking leisurely in the direction I was driving, as well as more cars on the road as well.

It took just over 5 minutes to get to the school, and I pulled into the parking lot that I saw students entering from. Not that many people were there yet, considering that it was only 7:30, so I managed to get a spot pretty close to the front of the lot.

As I stepped out of my car I looked over the vastness of the school. It looked to be about 2 stories tall and stretched the entire length of the football field, which just happened to be on the other side of the parking lot.

I grabbed my bag from the backseat and slung it over my shoulder, being sure to lock the car as I headed towards the large building.

As I walked up to one of the many door lining the wall of the school I noted the few others students entering the building a little ways down from me. They were all smiling and swaying around happily, so I had to blink in surprise at their actions. School wasn't _that_ fun.

Stepping inside the building I looked down the long corridor either way. The hall smell strongly of chlorine, and I immediately figured that there was a pool nearby. Oh a whim I turned to the left and, after a moment, wandered upon a large gym. There were a few jockeys lingering inside, joking and wrestling with each other. I left after a moment and headed up the nearby stairwell in search of the office, or at least someone who could help me.

As I stepped onto the second floor of the building I looked around again, the only thing in sight being a long hallway lined with numerous lockers.

"Dammit," I cursed, and flipped out my cell phone – 7:35. "Where is the office?"

I then stomped down the hallway to the right. A few students lingered in the hall, chatting friendlily, and I easily brushed past them, stalking towards god knows where.

I sighed, and ran a hand through my hair, turning down a random hall. "I really don't wanna get lost on the first da-," I suddenly bumped into something quite hard and stumbled back. My hand flew out, trying to catch onto something before I could hit the ground, and another hand firmly grabbed my wrist, stopping my descent instantly.

Blinking in shock, I looked up at my savior.

Standing in front of me was a tall silver haired man. He was wearing some type of medical mask and one surprised onyx eye was clearly showing on his half covered face. The rest of his body was covered in a loose, slightly unbutton white shirt and a pair of black slacks and dress shoes.

"Are you alright?" He questioned, releasing his grip on me as I regained my balance. I quickly nodded.

"Yeah – I'm fine, thanks."

His eye closed in a smile. "You're very welcome." He straightened back up and shifted the books that were tucked underneath his arm. "You must be new here."

I blinked. "Is it that obvious?"

He chuckled slightly. "Not exactly, I've just been a teacher here for so long that I know all of the student's faces, and I don't ever recall seeing yours."

"I see…"

"You're looking for the front office, correct?" He continued and both of my eyebrows rose. The man turned and pointed down the hall. "If you go down the end of this hallway it should be to your left."

"Thanks…," I said, still surprised that he knew where it was I needed to go. He only waved a hand nonchalantly in farewell as he brushed past me, heading to where ever it was he was going before.

"Welcome to Shinobi High," were his final words.

I stared after him for a minute before heading in the direction that he had pointed. And sure enough, a moment later I stumbled across the front office.

Inside, behind a large wooden desk was a petite black haired woman. She looked up at my arrival.

"Hello!" She greeting, standing from her spot with a smile. I politely smiled back. "Are you Aerin?"

I blinked for the million time toady and then laughed. "I guess you don't get new students all that often, do you?"

She continued to smile. "No, we don't."

"My name is Shizune, by the way," she added after a moment, while rummaging through the papers beside her. "I am the vice principal here."

"It's very nice to meet you," I replied, glad that we had started off on a good note.

Shizune opened her mouth to reply but another voice interrupted her.

"SHIZUNE!" The voice boomed. "Who the hell are you talking to out there?! Is it that new girl? If so, bring her in! I wanna see who the hell this chick is!"

Shizune sweat dropped and I stared at where the voice had come from in mild shock.

"Who the hell is that?" I asked in a harsh whisper, and she sent me a weak smile.

"The principal – Lady Tsunade."

"The principal?!"

She nodded, and then shook her head in slight disappointment. "Yes. Lady Tsunade is quite stressed out about the new school year…"

I continued to stare incredulously. "So, what? Did she get drunk?"

Shizune only stayed silent, so I took that as a "yes".

"Come with me," she said after a moment and I shuffled behind the desk following her down the hall that rested just behind it. We stopped in front of a large wooden door a few seconds later and, without knocking, opened it and stepped inside.

I shuffled behind her into the room, and caught sight of the source of the voice I had heard earlier.

Behind another wooden desk like the one Shizune had been sitting behind, was a pink-faced, blonde haired woman. She had a blue diamond tattooed onto the center of her forehead, and her clearly ample breasts nearly spilled out of the low-cut top she adorned.

"Stop hiding behind Shizune and let me look at you!" She ordered after looking up and seeing that I was partially sheltering myself behind the black haired woman.

I did as she said, stepping out from behind the vice principal and revealing myself to her. Tsunade instantly looked me up and down, a small sneer pulling at her lips.

"What's your name, girl?"

"Aerin," I replied automatically.

"Last?"

"Gray," I added. "Aerin Gray."

Tsunade propped her elbow up on the desk and then placed her head into the palm of her hand. "You're quite pretty," she commented after a moment. "How many boyfriends have you had?"

I blushed, a little taken aback. "What?"

The blonde snickered slightly. "Oh, I see. You're the innocent type."

At that I scoffed slightly, making her look back at me somewhat quizzically.

"Oh, I'm definitely not innocent," I told her, smirking. "But other people don't need to know that."

The principal blinked and then laughed heartily, taking a swig from whatever the cup on her desk contained. "I like you!" She exclaimed with a drunken grin. "How do you feel about school?"

I shrugged. "It is what it is, I guess. I'll come and do what I need to do in order to pass with good grades, but won't necessarily enjoy all of it."

"So you want good grades?"

I nodded. "There's no point in spending the first 18 years of your life in school and then failing at it the whole time. That gets you nowhere."

"Good girl!" She said, raising her glass into the air. "We need more students like you."

I sent her a smile. "I'm glad you think so."

"Shizune!"

"Yes?"

Tsunade smirked at me. "Show Miss Gray around. Make sure she knows where her classes are located."

"Of course!" The woman beside me beamed, and turned to leave the office. I started to follow her out when Tsunade stopped me.

"If anyone bothers you, let me know about it."

"Alright," I replied, dipping my head in thanks.

Shizune lead us back out into the front office and then handed me a small slip of paper. "This is your schedule," she told me. "It also has your locker number, combination, and other information you might need on it."

"Thanks," I replied, looking the paper over. At that moment the bell rang and I looked around, a bit surprised.

"Don't worry about the bell," she told me. "You won't be counted as late."

"Alright," I replied after a moment, a little relieved.

"Now come on," she left headed out of the office back into the hall and I followed her. "I'll show you around."

The two off us walked back down the hallway and just as we turned the corner the intercom beeped on.

"_Hello, you brats,"_ Tsunade's stern voice came. _"It's the start of another year. So behave and try your best and I might not have to assign so many detentions this time around, got it? That's all."_

I laughed a bit. I liked Tsunade.

After a minute Shizune and I stopped in front of a large window which overlooked the student parking lot.

"That's the athletic field," she said, pointing across the parking lot at the white and green field. "The cafeteria is actually on the back end of the school, but you shouldn't have trouble finding it when the time comes, just follow the swarms of people.

"The pool and gym are the only things on the first floor besides the health room, so those shouldn't be hard to find either," she continued, sending me a reassuring smile. "And if you ever get lost, there are maps positioned on the walls in some places."

"I see, thanks," I smiled back and she nodded.

"What's your first class?"

"Oh, uh," I hurriedly pulled the sheet she had given me earlier from my pocket. "It says "11th grade English with Kakashi Hatake"."

Her smile widened. "Kakashi is always a student favorite," she said, turning in the direction of his classroom. "I believe that you'll like him."

'_Well, that's reassuring,' _I thought to myself as I trailed behind her.

We continued down the hall and just as we turned the corner to the English hall we ran into two guys leisurely propped up against one of the walls. The both looked up at our appearance.

One of the males I almost would've mistaken for a female because of his long blond hair and blue eyes, but the muscles on his body and the way he was dressed let me know different. Beside him was a shaggy red haired male. He had uninterested hazel eyes and was able to easily disregard us.

"Deidara, Sasori," Shizune said in a scolding tone, placing her hands on her hips. "It's only the first day of school and you've both already managed to be late."

"Whatever, un," the blonde scoffed, looking away.

The red haired male only glanced at Shizune and then at me for a split second before turning without a word and heading in the opposite direction. The blonde stared after him before following, but looked back, locking eyes with me for a split second. I only blinked, which made him smirk.

"We'll go to class now and be good little students, yeah" he said, waving a hand in the air as the two of them walked away. "See ya later."

For some odd reason I felt as if that was aimed more towards me.

Shizune only shook her head at the two and continued leading me towards my class.

"This is it, good luck," she said a moment later as we stopped outside a closed door. With that she turned and walked back towards the office, leaving me alone in the hall.

Taking in a deep sigh I faced the door and knocked on it a few times. Inside the voices that were heard quieted down and the door opened. The male on the other side blinked at me in slight surprise and I did the same.

"Aerin?" The navy haired Uchiha questioned and I smiled.

"Hey there, Sasuke."

Stepping aside he allowed me into the classroom before closing the door and returning to his seat.

"Aerin!" Naruto cheered from his seat, waving at me wildly. I giggled and waved back openly.

"Oh? So it seems you've already met Naruto and Sasuke."

I turned to meet the voice that had spoken and surprisingly found the face of the man that had saved me from falling earlier.

He smiled at me. "It seems that you are in my class. My name is Kakashi Hatake."

"But you can call him Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto butted in.

"That you may. Now, why don't you introduce yourself to the class? Say who you are, what you like, dislike, and what your dreams and hobbies are."

"Uhhh," I staggered. "My name is Aerin Gray. I like music, I dislike idiots, I don't really have any dreams, and my hobby would be writing."

"Good," Kakashi nodded. "I'm glad to have you in my class Miss Gray. Now," he looked over the students. "Why don't you go ahead and take the seat behind Sakura."

"Alright," I said, and scuffled over to the desk that was behind the girl who had politely raised her hand to show me who she was.

Sakura was a very pretty girl to be honest, but her hair color was particular.

I settled into the desk and set my bag on the floor beside me. Once I was sitting Kakashi continued with his lesson, which was pretty much rambling on about what we'd be covering this trimester and any materials we'd need if we didn't already have them.

Just as I was beginning to zone off my pocket vibrated, and after making sure Kakashi wasn't looking, I pulled out my phone to see who had texted me.

**Hey there.**

I stared at the screen. It wasn't a saved number, but it didn't seem like a troll either, so I decided to reply.

**Hey yourself**.

A minute after I sent the text I received another one.

**Lol in case you were wondering this I stole Naruto's phone and found your number.**

I smirked ever so slightly.

**And for what purpose would you do that?**

I don't know why I was even replying, let alone being nice about it.

My phone vibrated again and I skimmed over the text.

**Well you seem pretty cool, and since Naruto and Sasuke seem to like you I don't see why we can't be buds too.**

I breathed in a laugh.

**Aww, that's sweet. But even if you know who I am, I still don't know who you are.**

It was true enough.

**Oh! I'm the handsome devil sitting next to Naruto. **

I looked up towards the front of the class where Naruto was sitting. To Naruto's left was Sasuke, and to his right was this brown haired guy. I figured it was the brown haired guy, and not the nearly unemotional Uchiha.

**You're Sasuke? Man, I never imagined he'd called himself a handsome devil. What a change. **

10 seconds later I got another reply.

**Oh haha, very funny. My name's Kiba Inuzuka. I'm on Naruto's other side.**

I rolled my eyes.

**I know you are, silly.**

After I sent the message I saved his number under "Kiba Inuzuka". He never replied again, but 10 minutes later when class ended and I was about to leave he made sure to bump into my shoulder purposefully.

"Hey," I said simply, smiling slightly. He grinned back, and looking at his face I realized that he was actually quite handsome.

"I'll text you," he said simply with a friendly smile before leaving the room.

I didn't really take that in a flirty kind of way. Kiba just seemed like a nice guy, so I didn't mull it over all that much.

After leaving the classroom I pulled out my schedule and checked what my next hour was. However, just as I was about to put the paper away it was snatched out of my hands.

"Hey!" I protested, turning to see who had grabbed it from me. To my surprise, Sasuke was standing there, looking the sheet over.

"Looks like we have the same class," he said monotonously, handing the sheet back to me. "Come on."

The Uchiha started walked down the hall in the opposite direction I had been planning to go, and I quickly followed after him, being sure to place my schedule back into my pocket.

"You're being quite helpful," I told him as we walked down the hall. He continued to stare straight ahead, not saying a word.

"Oh, I see. You're trying to keep up your appearance as that cool emo guy who doesn't talk at all."

"…Hn."

"Dawww, look at Sasuke, being all cool," I cooed, poking him in the arm. His lips twitched up for a split second, but quickly went back to being a straight line.

"Well, you smiled for a smile second, that's good enough for me," I said happily, and Sasuke only shook his head at my antics.

A minute later we both arrived in the science classroom, and I'll admit – that shit was pretty scary.

Usually science classroom had lots of light and random tools lying around, but this one was very dim and had jars containing who-knows-what scattered all over.

"Uhh…," I said, glancing around the room. Sasuke pushed me inside and towards one of the tables.

"You'll be fine," he assured. "They're all dead."

"And that's okay?!" I hissed back, earning myself another shrug.

Sasuke and I both sat at a table in the very back row of the classroom. In front of us a brunette haired kid was already sitting, and as we took our spots he turned around and dipped his head towards Sasuke in acknowledgement.

"Hello, Sasuke."

"Shino," he replied with a head dip of his own head.

It was at that moment I realized I had seen the guy somewhere before.

"You were at the Chinese restaurant a few days ago, right?"

He looked towards me, his dark glasses hiding his eyes. "Yes, I was…"

I smiled, trying to be friendly. "I'm Aerin Gray. It's nice to meet you."

"Shino Aburame," he replied after a moment of hesitation, and then flipped back around, ending the short conversation between us.

The bell symbolizing that students only had one minute to get to class sounded and at that moment an excited, high-pitched voice squealed in joy.

"Sasuke-kun~," a blonde with long, flowing hair sauntered into the room, smiling widely at the male beside me. "I'm so glad you're here!" She exclaimed, sliding into the seat that was on his other side. "Now someone can protect me from that creepy Orochimaru!"

I raised an eyebrow, looking over at the two of them. "Orochimaru?"

"He's such a creepy guy!" Ino said with a shiver. "Apparently all the jars around the room are parts of animals that he did experiments on!" She suddenly blinked and tilted her head to the side. "Eh? Who are you?"

"Aerin," I replied. "I'm new here."

"Oh!" Ino exclaimed, and dug through the designer bag she had been carrying with her. "Here!" She tossed me her cell phone. "Put your number in!"

I complied to her request, putting my number in, but also mumbling, "You guys are so nice…I don't understand," while I did.

Ino giggled at that, and I handed her phone back to her. "We're the nicest people in this whole school!" She told me.

"Really?"

She nodded, politely smiling. "We're always here to welcome people who aren't complete douches, and you seem fairly nice, so there's no reason to be mean."

I blinked in surprise. "Now you're just being too nice."

"Hey, Ino, Sasuke, Shino."

All of us looked up at the newcomers. One was a female with two buns tied up on her head, and the other a light eyed male with a loose ponytail.

"Hey Tenten!" Ino replied happily with a wave. "Hey Neji."

"What are you two doing in this class?" Sasuke questioned as the two sat down in the two empty seats next to Shino.

"We ran out of room in our schedules to take it last year," the female replied with a shrug. "So we're taking it this year. Too bad Orochimaru's the teacher."

"I know right!" Ino instantly agreed. "Anyway," she pointed her hand towards me. "This is Aerin! She's new."

I blinked, surprised at my sudden introduction, but sent the two who were now staring at me a small smile. "Hey there."

The brunette girl sent me a smile in return. "I'm Tenten, and that's Neji," she added in, nudging the boy beside her. He only glanced at me and dipped his head in acknowledgement.

I opened my mouth to say something else but the loud slam of the classroom door interrupted me.

A pale, skinny man stalked into the room and stood behind the desk up front. He looked over the class with an almost sinister grin.

"Hello," he said, a hiss-like quality to his voice. "My name is Orochimaru and you'll all be a part of this class for the trimester. Behave like the good little rodents you are and I might not have to tear apart and dissect you."

"Is this guy for real?" I whispered out loud, glancing over at the two sitting beside me. Ino nodded, looking a little scared herself, and Sasuke only raised his eyebrow slightly, acting as if he had expected this.

"You, in the back."

I looked back forward to find Orochimaru staring right at me. "You must be new here," he stated, his golden eyes locked with mine.

I hesitantly nodded. "I am…"

"You look to be around 17…," he said aloud. "What is your name?"

"…Aerin."

He did not say anything else, only staring at me for another few moments before turned and walking to the door.

"We will go and get our textbooks tomorrow," he said simply while exiting into the hall. "Break anything and I kill you."

With that he left the room and the room remained silent for a minute after his departure before students finally had the guts to begin to converse.

"_What_?" Was the first thing I said, and down the row Ino nodded.

"I know right…"

"I feel like he would actually kill us…"

Tenten twisted around in her seat. "I heard rumors that he experiments on students who disobey him."

"I've heard that too!" Ino exclaimed. "Apparently some kid broke one of his jars during class last year and Orochimaru pulled the kid into the back room to talk to him, and the next day the kid came into school screaming and crying! He ended up having to be sent to the psyche ward, and some people say Orochimaru injected him with some type of drug!"

Tenten nodded her head. "I've heard a lot of things like that."

"What do you think, Sasuke?" Ino questioned, leaning in towards the Uchiha.

Sasuke only shrugged and crossed his arms, leaning back in his seat. "I wouldn't doubt it."

I swallowed the ball that had formed in my throat.

Note to self: Don't break any of Orochimaru's shit, or you die.

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait. I've been busy lately. (Ya know, dad having a 3rd brain surgery and everything?)**

**Anyway, yay! XD Aerin finally made it to school. I know there's been some people who have been like "It's called Shinobi High, when the hell is she gonna get to school?" Well...now! **

**And, I mean, come on. Everyone has lives outside of school too.**

**Oh well.**

**Oh! And just to let anyone who follows this story or my other one, I probably won't be able to post a chapter until at least the 13th. Sorry, that's just how it is.**

**I'm leaving on a trip with the Band Department at our school on Thursday, right after school gets out, to Disney World. **

**:D FUCK YEAH DISNEY WORLD.**

**(FUCK YEAH I GET TO MISS SCHOOL FRIDAY)**

**But yeah, I don't think that I'll get the chance to post any new chapters. I might be able to start some if I find the time, but I'm actually pretty busy after school this week, and with the time I do have, I'll probably end up spending it on homework or just taking time to sort out my business. (I'm insane, so I have to take time to sort all the thoughts going thru my head out :P)**

**Yep, that's the true.**

**Hopefully you are all having a good day :) I went and got a haircut earlier and am now listening to a ton of great music on YouTube.**

**Look up TastyNetwork. Awesome Techno stuff.**

**Anyway, I gotta go and get some homework done now. I'm trying to stay up late tonight for a livestream by one of my favorite YouTubers, ChaoticMonki, so I'm planning to try and get some stuff done today, so that if I end up staying up pretty late tonight I won't have a shit ton of stuff to get done tomorrow.**

**(We ended up having a snowday yesterday, but the math teachers were prepared and gave us the homework for Thursday _and_ Friday. Damn them.)**

**So yeah, see you guys when I see you!**

**Please Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**My only excuse is that I am a terrible procrastinator.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Naruto owns me. **

* * *

Orochimaru ended up never coming back to class, and thankfully, no one broke any of his possessions.

I talked with Ino for a little while, Tenten joining in our chatter as well. They mostly gossiped about all the rumors that were already beginning to spread around the school, and I sat there, trying to understand what it all meant.

Sasuke tuned us out after a short while, digging his iPod out from his pocket. Neji did almost the same, but emerged himself in a book instead, and Shino only sat there quietly, just kind of staring off into the distance.

The rest of the hour passed quickly, and soon the bell rang. I gathered my things and stood, staying behind for a moment while the rest of the students exited the room so that I could check to see what was next on my schedule.

_**3**__**rd**__** period – Art – Kurenai Yuuhi – Room 216**_

"216, huh?" I muttered aloud. '_I gotta head down to the second floor then…'_

Swinging my bag over my shoulder I slipped out into the hallway and began searching for the nearest stairwell. Eventually I made it to the second floor, but then it became a matter of finding the classroom itself, which took another few minutes.

The bell rang just as I stepped into the classroom, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I really didn't want to be late to any classes on the first day of school.

Scuttling to the back of the classroom, I took at seat on one of the bar stools that line a long counter, the only other person occupying at seat there being, a bored looking red head. He glanced at me for a brief moment and then looked back to the front where a black haired woman now stood behind the tall desk.

"Good morning class," she greeted smiling at us all. "Welcome to Art class – I am Ms. Yuuhi, your teacher. I see a lot of old faces, but also many new, which is good.

"In this class we will be doing a series of projects, but it is up to you the method in which you complete such. Drawing, painting, sculpting –"

At that moment a blonde walked through the still open classroom door. I recognized him as the guy who had been in the hall earlier.

Ms. Yuuhi paused and glanced over at him. "Nice of you to join us Deidara – you're just on cue."

The blonde grinned at her and then headed to the back of the classroom where I was, sitting next to the red head across from me. At that moment I suddenly remembered that the red head was the other guy who had been skipping with him earlier.

"As I was saying," Ms. Yuuhi continued, folding her hands together. "It's up to you what method you would like to use. Your first assignment is to come up with something that describes you." She headed over to the blackboard and started writing the title of the assignment. "It'll be due by the end of the week. If anyone needs help feel free to ask me."

With that she set the chalk down and stepped out from behind the desk. I blinked in surprise at seeing the huge bump which was her stomach.

"Oh, and," she stopped and turned to look back at all of us. She smiled. "I happen to be 7 months pregnant at the moment, so I may be out soon, meaning you'll have a sub."

'_She shouldn't even be here at 7 months,' _I thought to myself as Ms. Yuuhi headed into the back office, letting the class get to work.

As kids started to stand and go to the areas or get the supplies they needed, I surveyed the class room. On one side of the room was a station for wielding jewelry, and on the other were some wheels for pottery. Paint, colors pencils, chalk, and others medium all littered a large shelf towards the front of the room.

With a long breath I stood and headed towards the front of the classroom. I was no stranger to art class; at my old school I had been in quiet a few classes.

Art was a type of release for me, I guess you could say. So I worked at it a lot.

I stopped in front of the large shelf and grabbed a handful of chalk and a good sized sheet of paper, and then headed back to my seat. Just after sitting, the red head, Sasori, I think his name was, sat down in his own place and set an armful of wood and carving tools on the table. I stared at it all a bit confused.

What was he gonna do with all that?

My eyes flicked back to his face and I froze when his cold eyes met mine. He stared at me for a few seconds, and I, shocked in to silence, held his gaze until he finally looked away, getting to work on the project.

"Danna," the blonde, Deidara, slung his arm around Sasori and slid into his seat. In his free hand was a large clump of white clay, and he slapped it onto the table with a grin. "Making your dolls again, yeah?"

Sasori's eyes narrowed dangerously and Deidara quickly waved him off. "Kidding! Jeez, un."

"_Brat_," the red head spit, looking down at the wooden pieces in front of him, picking up a carving tool.

I stared between the two, not really understanding what was going on, but quickly brushed them off and got to work on my project.

First things first, I pulled out my iPod and started blasting music into my ears. It was just a habit of mine to block everything out when I was about to focus on something seriously. Next I grabbed my pencil and sketched two lines across the paper, dividing it into four squares. I already had a pretty good idea of what I was gonna do in my head.

I started drawing circles for heads, and got immersed in my work for a good time. The outline of faces started appearing and eventually little facial features started to form. However, just as I was about to go back over and darken the lines, something sticky and wet hit my cheek, and I jolted up, staring wide eyed at Deidara who still had his hand in a throwing position.

"What the fuck…," I pulled an earbud out of my ear and wiped the little piece of clay that had stuck to my cheek off of my face. I stared at the male, a bit angry. "Can I help you?"

He raised an eyebrow at my attitude. "It's time to clean up, yeah."

I turned my head to look at the clock, and another piece of clay hit me in the face.

"What the-," I pick it off and chucked it back at him. "_Dude_."

Deidara only grinned. "Just thought that I'd show you I'm not a nice guy."

I made a face and started gathering up the pieces of chalk I had borrowed. "Yeah, I figured you weren't the exemplary student when I saw you skipping earlier. But now I've confirmed that you're an ass too."

I stood and walked back up to the cabinet at the front of the classroom and put the chalk back in the bin. On my way back towards my seat the bell rang, and students all flooded out of the classroom in a hurry. Soon the classroom was empty, and it soon clicked in my mind that people had left so quickly because it was lunch time.

Remembering Shizune's words of "just follow the crowd" I packed my bag and then turned to leave, hoping that it'd be so easy as to follow everyone, but before I could even take a step Deidara was there, blocking my way.

"Really?" I questioned, trying to push around him. He only grabbed my arm and stared at me with harsh, seducing blue eyes.

"Don't fuck with me, yeah," he stated, his grip on my forearm tightening as he leaned his face closer to mine. "It won't end up pretty if you do."

I gave him a look of absolute ludicrous. "If you fuck with me first than it's my right to fuck back, right?" I shoved back at him. "Maybe you should realize that and pull your head back out of your ass."

Deidara's eyes sparked in anger. "You bitc-!"

"Deidara!"

Both of us paused and turned to look at Sasori, who stood a few feet away from us, next to his seat. His hazel eyes had gone from their typical bored state and turned hard.

"Leave her alone," he said, and after a moment of internal conflict Deidara shoved me back, releasing his grasp on my arm. With a scowl the blonde grabbed the strap on his bag and exited the room.

Once he was gone my guard lowered drastically, and I quizzically glanced over at Sasori who was now a few steps closer than before. His once again calm hazel eyes locked with mine.

"Your attitude will end up getting you in trouble."

I didn't blink. "It's not my fault. And trouble with who?"

He was quiet for a moment… and then – "Aerin Gray," I blinked. "17 years old, 67 inches tall, brown hair, green eyes. You moved here a month or so ago with your mother."

"Whoa, wha-"

"The Akatsuki keep tabs on everyone," he stated, taking another step closer. "We know how to get to those who mess with us."

"And what the hell is "Akatsuki"?" I questioned, back on edge once again.

"A name you'll probably hear a lot during your stay," he responded, and turned to head towards the door. "Keep that attitude of yours in check and hopefully you'll never need to experience what we are."

With that the red head was gone and I stood there, staring after him for a moment before exiting the classroom myself.

Whatever the hell the "Akatsuki" were, I hated them already.

* * *

Eventually I managed to locate the lunchroom, and to my surprise, it was all pretty much outside. Tables were scattered everywhere and there was a small field lined with trees a ways away, behind it resting the remainder of the sports field.

Because of the fact that I was late to lunch, the lines had shortened a bit and I hopped into one before they closed.

I ended up getting a simple slice of pizza and some chips, and two little cartons of strawberry milk.

Strawberry milk = way better than chocolate.

I paid for my food and then wandered out into the courtyard, searching for a place to sit. The first day of lunch always sucked because you had to find somewhere to sit. But this day particularly sucked more, because I pretty much knew absolutely no one.

"Aerin!"

I looked around and stared in surprise at Naruto, who was at a table far in the back, waving at me.

With a wave back to show him that I had heard his call I quickly scooted back to where he and a bunch of others were sitting. Some of the ones I actually recognized where Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Shino, Kiba, Neji, and Tenten.

"Hey," I greeted, "can I sit here?"

"Of course, 'ttebayo!" Naruto exclaimed with a wide smile and I slipped into a seat between Kiba and a very pretty blue haired girl.

"H-hello," she greeted shyly. "My name is Hinata Hyuuga."

I smiled at her. "I'm Aerin. It's nice to meet you Hinata."

The girl blushed and gave a small smile. "Y-you too!"

I picked up my pizza and took a bite. "So how's everyone's day so far?"

Another guy a few seat away yawned, and placed his chin in the palm of his hand. "Boring as usual."

"Aw, come on!" Ino nudged him in the shoulder. "You're happy to be back in Asuma-sensei's class, Shikamaru."

He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so, but we played Shogi during to summer, so it's not like I haven't seen him or anything…"

"Well my day is going just fine!" A kid with a bowl haircut exclaimed. I stared at him for a moment pondering his fashion sense considering that he was wearing a green track suit. "What about you, my lovely Sakura-san!"

Sakura's eye twitched a little at his calling of her, but answered anyway. "It's good, Lee. What about you Sasuke-kun?"

The Uchiha nearly shrugged, not speaking a word.

"So," Kiba slung his arm around my shoulder. "How's your day?"

I shrugged, taking another bite of my food. "It's been interesting, that's for sure…"

The whole table was suddenly staring at me.

"Well, what happened?"

"First hour was fine, second was a bit weird…I kinda feel like that Orochimaru guy has got something against me."

"Damn, you've got Orochimaru? That's rough," a husky guy munching on some chips commented, and I nodded in agreement.

"I know, right?" I paused to take a sip of my milk. "My art teacher is pretty nice too, but I sit next to a fucking douche bag…"

"Whoa, hold up." Naruto started, leaning over to get closer. "Who are you talking about?"

I put my arm on the table and placed my head in my palm. "I don't know, man. Some ass named Deidara, I guess."

The mood of the table changed drastically. I looked around a little surprised as everyone now was focused on what I was saying.

"Deidara?" Sasuke repeated, voicing into the conversation for the first time. Judging by the stern look on his face it seemed that mentioning Deidara wasn't a good thing.

I nodded. "Yeah, we have art together…," I paused to glance around at everyone, simultaneously sipping my milk. "Is…everything okay?"

"Deidara just isn't the nicest guy," Sakura explained while a few of the guys began scowling just at the thought of him. "I wouldn't get too close."

I scoffed and glanced sideways at the table. "Trust me, I wouldn't wanna be anywhere near that guy if I had the choice. But sadly it seems I'm already on his hit list."

"What?" Naruto stared at me in disbelief. "_Already_?"

"The hell'd you do to him?" Kiba questioned.

I shrugged. "He chucked a piece of clay at my face to get my attention, I got peeved and told him he was an ass, we got in a little push-shove type fight, which Sasori broke up, and then-"

"You met Sasori too?!" Ino interrupted, her mouth ajar in shock.

"Holy shit – is this a bad thing?" I replied, looking around at everyone with wide eyes, a bit angry and confused at all the commotion that was suddenly taking place. "We got in an argument and Sasori told me to cool my attitude or I'd be in deep shit, that's all."

Down a few seats, Neji rubbed his temples. "This is bad."

"Who thought you'd be on their watch before the first day was over," Tenten added in, shaking her head.

"You guys are honestly beginning to freak me out," I said aloud. "I didn't think it was all that serious."

"Aerin," Sakura leaned towards me getting all serious. "The Akatsuki are a notorious gang at this school. They're done plenty of illegal things and pretty much ask for trouble. Try not to get on their bad side – it doesn't end well."

I blinked. I mean…I had already figured that much, but…

"Have you guys had trouble with them before?"

I few people around me tensed up and I saw Naruto open his mouth to answer, but the bell cut him off.

"That's a story for another day," Neji said, standing from his seat, flinging his back over his shoulder.

"We'll see you guys later," Tenten added in with a small smile as she followed behind Neji, heading away from the table.

"Goodbye, everyone!" Lee also exclaimed with a wave while jogging after the two.

Ino stood shortly after and hefted her large purse-like bag over one of her shoulders. "See you later!"

"Bye Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said in farewell, shooting a smile at the Navy haired Uchiha before skipping away with Ino.

Shikamaru stood tiredly and rubbed the side of his head. He grabbed his bag and sent a little wave to everyone left at the table and then walked back towards the build, the kid who had been munching on chips – and still was – right beside him.

Sasuke and Shino both up and left without a word, and Hinata followed after them. "Bye, Naruto-kun," she said tentatively. The blonde smiled at her.

"See you, Hinata!"

The girls face immediately reddened and she quickly shuffled away.

'_Oh, she so likes him,' _I thought, grinning to myself as her figure continued to get farther away.

"Come on, Aerin!" Naruto said, happily jumping up from his seat. I blinked.

"What?"

"We've all got the same 4th hour," Kiba explained with a grin, standing from his spot beside me.

"But you don't even know my schedule," I said, confused how they would both know, yet standing to follow them at the same time.

"Sasuke told us," Naruto said, glancing back at me. "You've got health, right?"

I rummaged through my pocket and pulled out the slip of paper.

**4****th**** period – Health – Jiraiya – Room 105 **

"Uh…yeah. I do actually," I said, a bit surprised. "How'd you know?"

"Sasuke told us," Kiba informed me as the three of us headed inside the building.

"Sasuke? But he only glanced at my schedule once."

Naruto laughed and threw a hand behind his head, grinning back at Kiba and I. "Sasuke's really good at remembering anything he sees."

"It's a bloodline trait, if that's what you wanna call it," Kiba added in, glancing over at me from the corner of his eyes with a smirk.

"So what?" I questioned as we rounded the corner, the scent of chlorine catching my nose. "Does that mean his whole family can remember things?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, they could."

I blinked. _'Could?'_

"Wait, what do y-"

The bell interrupted.

"Crap!" Naruto started running down the hall and Kiba and I chased after him. The three of us made it into the classroom just before the final bell rang.

"Oh, cutting it a little close there I see, Naruto!"

I looked up to find a tall man with long, spiky white hair standing in front of us. His face was aged with wrinkles, and a mole stood out on his nose.

Naruto grinned and made a laughing sound while rubbing the back of his head.

"Good to see you as well mister Inuzuka," the man added in and Kiba waved two of his fingers at him in salute.

His dark eyes looked to me and he smiled. "And you must be the new student Tsunade was telling me about."

I smiled in return, not even bothered by the fact that I was known as the new student by almost everyone. "Indeed I am."

"Well, I'm Jiraiya-"

"Ero-sennin," Naruto interrupted with a snicker and Jiraiya swiftly hit him in the back of the head, not even blinking.

"—and I'll be your health teacher for the trimester."

I laughed a little. "Aerin Gray. Glad to meet ya."

Jiraiya chuckled and placed his hands on his hips. "Well there are two empty tables left." I immediately noted that both tables were in the front of the room. "You three can divide up the seats."

The three of us all nodded at him and headed over to the empty tables. However, as we were walking, I was hit in the face with a small piece of paper.

"What the-," I hissed out quietly, looking to the side from which it had come.

My eyes met blue ones.

Fuck.

Right there, in the very back of the room, was Deidara, grinning like a fox. He was flanked on either side by two guys sharing his own evil look. I recognized one as the blue man I had seen at the store a day ago, but the other with white hair and pink eyes I'd never seen.

I quickly tried to forget about their existence as I slid into a seat at a table beside Naruto. Kiba sat at the table directly on my other side since there were only two chairs at each.

Once the three of us were all settled in, Jiraiya made his way to the head of the classroom.

"Afternoon class," he greeted. "I know a lot of you have taken this class already or at least know what it is about, but I'll do a brief overview of what it is we'll be learning while you're in here." He nonchalantly leaned back against the white board that spanned across the wall behind him. "We'll spend a week on nutrition, a few on drug and alcohol abuse, and then we'll get down to the good stuff."

I blinked. '_Good stuff?'_

I was about to raise my hand to ask what 'the good stuff' pertained to but before I could get it up Naruto pushed it back down onto the table. His eyes met mine with a warning look and he shook his head.

"You don't wanna know until you have to," he said, leaning in to whisper in my ear. I stared at him for a few seconds, eyes squinted in confusing, but he only nodded his head again and I decided to let the matter slide for now.

Jiraiya rambled on for a few more minutes about other random topics that may or may not be covered during the trimester before retiring back to his desk along the other side of the classroom. Since we had the rest of the hour to ourselves Naruto instantly pulled out his phone and started texting. Kiba pulled out his phone as well, but plugged his headphones into it and started to listen to music, eyes closing after a minute as his head rocked to the beat. With the two engrossed in their own entertainment I dug through my bag and pulled out a random notebook and my pencil case. I flipped to a page in the back and started sketching out eyes.

…I have this thing for eyes. They're pretty and cool.

After a while the page was filled with sketches of numerous eyes and I smiled at my work.

"Whoa," Naruto voice caught my attention and I looked up to find him staring at my notebook and awe. "That's so cool."

He reached over and snatched the pad of paper away from me. I made a grunting sound and tried to grab it back from him, but he pulled it out of reach and snapped a picture of the page before handing it back.

"What are you doing?" I questioned, flipping the notebook closed as he once again started typing away on his phone.

"I'm just…," he leaned in towards the screen and then pulled back a moment later with a grin, happily exclaiming, "Done!"

"What'd you do?" I questioned again, beginning to put my things away as I noticed that the hour was near its end.

"Nothing!" He replied cheekily. "I just sent a picture of it to Sasuke!"

I blinked. What? "Why would you-" I stopped as my pocket vibrated. Silently I pulled my cell from my pants and glanced at the unsaved number on the screen. Attached was the picture Naruto had taken.

**You drew this?**

I took a second to save Sasuke's number before replying.

**Indeed I did.**

I waited for his reply but the bell rang first, so I hefted my things over my shoulder and headed out of the room. Naruto caught up to me easily and placed a hand on my shoulder walking beside me.

"Ready for gym?" He questioned with his typical, joyful grin.

"Are you kidding me?" I glanced over at him with a smirk. "Hell no!"

Naruto blinked in surprise and then laughed. "What?! But gym is so easy!"

I scoffed. "Yeah, the class is easy to get an A in, but I really don't want to put forth the effort…"

Naruto laughed again and something clicked in the back of my mind. "Hey…I have 3 classes with you. What the hell is up with that?"

Naruto just continued to smile. "Who knows?"

The two of us entered the gym a moment later, the gym merely a hall away from the Health classroom. We were some of the first ones there, but people quickly stared entering after us. Those people included Shikamaru, Hinata, Sakura, Lee, Tenten, and Sasuke.

"Yay! We're all in the same gym class!" Naruto cheered as the crowd circled around us. Hinata blushed and shyly smiled at his cheering. I snuck over to her side.

"You like him don't you?" I whispered slyly, grinning. Hinata's face immediately changed into a darker shade of red and she tried to bury her head into her hands.

"It's best if you not mention it to her," Sakura told me in a hushed voice, stepping over to Hinata and I. "She always gets embarrassed about it."

"But it's so cute~," I cooed, and Sakura smiled in agreement, but Hinata only continued to stay red.

"Aright!" A man in a green jumpsuit similar to Lee's sprinted on the gym floor and skidded to a halt in front of us. "Class has started! Everyone gather round!"

Our group shuffled slightly closer to him while another group that had been lurking in the corner headed over to where we all were. At closer inspection I noted that the group contained a still bored looking Sasori as well as the silver haired guy from my last hour who I had yet to be acquainted with. There was also a black haired kid with an eye patch, a pretty blue haired girl and the same raven haired male who I'd seen with the blue kid at the store the other day.

"Well! This is the class!" The teacher exclaimed as we all finally gathered. "It's a bit small but that won't be a problem!"

"Now!" He stuck his hands on his hips and thrust his chest out proudly. "My name is Might Gai! And I will be your gym teacher!"

"OH, GAI-SENSEI!" Lee cried, his fist pumped in the air at his teacher passion.

"LEE!" Gai cried back at him and a few people around my started to facepalm.

"Anyway!" Gai coughed, getting back on track as he faced us all once again, teeth gleaming. "Tomorrow we will all begin in actual activity! But for now," he whipped a clipboard out of now where. "We need to get you all fitted for uniforms!"

I blinked. "Uniforms?"

"Yeah," Sakura nodded, whispering to me. "There was a problem with people not following the dress code or something so now everyone has to wear uniforms in gym."

"Dammit," I cursed, pressed my palm into my forehead and she smiled sadly.

"Girls! Go to your locker room! You will find a rack full of uniforms there for all of you! Same for the boys! Try them on and come back in here and tell me the number on the tag of the uniform you're taking when you find one that works!" He pumped his fist into the air. "Alright my wonderful youths! Go forth!"

Without needing to be told another word the sexes spilt up to go to their locker rooms respectively, and I followed behind Hinata and Sakura as we walked into ours, the blue haired chick entering behind us.

"I don't want uniforms~," I whined as the giant rack came into sight. Hinata giggled at me.

"It- It'll be fine, Aerin!"

I only made another awkward sound and Hinata giggling again. Sakura smiled a bit, but was first to step up to the rack. She searched for her sizes of each and then, once found, headed farther back into one of the locker isles to try them on.

Hinata stepped up after her and took a moment longer fetching her sizes since, you know, her top was a lot bigger than the bottom.

While she scuttled towards the back of the locker room I stepped up to find my sizes and the blue haired girl stepped up beside me.

"Aerin Grey, correct?"

I paused and glanced over at her. Her orange eyes were still staring straight ahead as she rummaged through the rack.

"I get the feeling you're with the Akatsuki," I replied after a moment, resuming my search for a uniform as well.

"I see you've already become acquainted with us then," she replied monotonously.

"Not like I wanted to…"

"I see…you must be the girl Deidara was ranting about at lunch then – the one who called him an ass."

I scoffed. "He is one. The guy was just askin' for it."

I swear I saw her lips twitch up. "Whether that may be, I'd advise you to keep your cool around him. He tends to have a short fuse."

"Oh, don't I know it," I mumbled, rubbing the sore spot on my wrist from where he had grabbed me. The girl merely glanced at me once more before taking her uniform and disappearing further into the locker room.

I quickly picked out mine as well, opting to shuffle off into a little side room inside of heading to the back where the other three were.

After stripping and putting the gym outfit on I shuffled over to a mirror to see how it looked. The outfit was basically a short-sleeved white t-shirt and a pair of shorts. The shorts were a little shorter than I wanted them to be, only reaching down to just above mid-thigh, but it could've been worse.

Deciding that the outfit fit alright I placed it back on the hanger and then checked the tab number before setting it off to the side. I then headed back out onto the main floor where Gai-Sensei was taking down numbers.

"Hello Miss Gray!" he cheerfully greeted as I approached him. "Did you find a uniform?"

I nodded. "Indeed I did." I told him the number and then he reached down into a bucket beside him and tossed me a lock.

"Go and find a locker," he instructed. "Put your uniform inside once you do."

I nodded once again and then turned to go back into the locker room…only to run into a firm chest.

"Shi-" I looked up to find the face of the raven haired man I had first seen into the store. "Sorry!" I quickly apologized and shuffled past him. He only stared after me for a moment without a word and then turned towards Gai.

On my way back to the lockers I ran into Sasuke and he stopped me.

"Did you just run into my brother?"

"Your br-," I looked back at the raven haired guy and then to Sasuke. "That's your brother?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, looking past me. "Sadly."

"Um…"

Sasuke released my from his grasp. "Sorry. You should just stay clear of Itachi." He said, shoving his hands back into his pocket. "He's Akatsuki."

With that he continued on his way and I started to continue on mine when his voice once again stopped me. "Oh, and by the way."

I turned to face him and his lips twitched up into a small smirk. "I liked your drawings – of the eyes."

"Thanks," I replied, a bit stunned as I felt my face heat up a little. I hurriedly turned and headed into the locker room.

Compliments always got me flustered.

Goddamit.

* * *

The rest of the day went by in a flash. I chose my locker, shoved my uniform into it and then headed back into the gym where the guys were already engaged in a round of half court basketball.

I just sat nearby and watched them battle it out. Guys were always so serious when it came to sports.

Soon Gai stepped in and collected the ball from them. The bell rang soon after and we all scattered.

I headed out the gym enterance and back towards the hall Naruto and I had walked down to get here, the doors leading to the parking lot happening to be right there.

The outside air was refreshing and warm as it hit my skin, the cool air from inside the school trailing behind me.

"Hey Aerin!" I paused as Naruto jogged after me. "You have a good first day?"

I nodded, smiling a little. "It was pretty good. Better than I expected it to be actually."

He grinned widely. "That's awesome!"

"Dobe." Naruto and I both turned our attention to Sasuke who was a few feet ahead of us. "Hurry up,"

"Coming honey!" the blonde replied, making Sasuke roll his eyes. "See you later!" He called waving at me as he jogged to catch up with Sasuke.

"Bye." I replied with a small gesture and a smile. "See you Sasuke!" I also called after the Uchiha teasingly. The navy haired male only threw a wave over his shoulder in reply and I laughed, heading towards my own car.

Maybe school wouldn't be too bad…

* * *

**I'm a terrible procrastinator. What can I say.**

**The internet is so tempting when you actually try and get things done.**

**Oh, and it doesn't help when I form an obsession with RoosterTeeth as well. That shit is so amazing - I mean distracting. Yep.**

**Oh Gavin~ Oh Micheal~ OH MAVIN~**

**I am definitely going to be writing some Mavin soon. That is an amazing OTP.**

**Just like Snund. But I've contributed to that fanbase already~**

**Whoops! Going off into a different realm :P**

**Anyway, today is the first day of my third trimester. THANK GOD.**

**I really fucking up last tri, not even gonna lie. I gotta pay more attention during this one :]**

**Well, I really don't have all too much to say.**

**Sorry for the delay, I guess. And for anyone waiting on my other story I'm actually quite motivated and excited to begin writing the next chapter :] So hopefully it won't be too long of a wait!**

**Catch you guys later!**

**Night!**

**REVIEW~**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto - if I did there wouldn't be so many fillers in the anime.**

* * *

For the rest of the day I ate, fucked around on the internet for a few hours, and then went to bed early. I tended to value sleep, and since I had no reason to stay up it wasn't too hard for me to settle down on my mattress at – what might be considered the early time of 10:00.

I slept undisturbed until my alarm went off at the set time of 6:15 the next morning. My routine then started, and I hopped out of bed, lethargically padded down the hall, and stepped into the shower. The semi-boiling water prevented my mind from flicking back into sleep mode.

Once I had brushed my hair and taken care of all my necessities in the bathroom I headed back into the bedroom and rummaged through my closet and drawers. From what I could see after peaking out of my blinds to the front yard of the house, the weather was sunny and it looked to be pretty warm so I slipped on a pair fitting black cargo shorts and tan colored tank top, covering it up with a red sweatshirt jacket.

After dressing I shuffled into the kitchen and popped some bread into the toaster, pouring myself a glass of juice while I waited. Since I had the earliest lunch I decided toast would be enough to hold me over and grabbed some more money for lunch today, shoving it into a pouch in my bag.

With all of my morning necessities taken care of I grabbed my keys and headed out to my car. The ride to school didn't feel nearly as long as the day before – probably because I knew where it actually was this time – and I was able to grab a parking spot near the front of the lot, the school not seeming to crowded yet.

I grabbed my backpack and threw it over my shoulder, locked the car, and then headed into the school. Since I now knew the location of my first hour class, I took a right and headed down a long hall, and then another, before taking the stairwell up to the third floor. There were a few groups of kids littered around the front hall, chatter bouncing between them, but I turned the other way and headed down the English hall, taking only a few steps before sliding in the room to my side.

Kakashi was nowhere to be found, most of the class included. The only one in the room beside myself was Shikamaru, who had his head face down on his desk.

I stared at him for a moment, wondering if he was okay, but soon brushed it off when his barely audible snoring got a bit louder. I snorted slightly and carefully brushed past him, heading back to my seat.

The room felt kind of weird empty, so I quickly tried to preoccupy myself by doodling.

I don't really know why, but at the moment all I could really think about was Shikamaru at this point so I started sketching out a body and a head. Soon a pair of jeans appeared on the legs, a loose T-shirt on the torso, and a rough pair of shoes popping out at the bottom.

The head took me a while to draw however.

Though it seemed easy, Shikamaru's pineapple shaped hair caused a bit of trouble.

After a few tries though, I got past it and finished on the other details of the face. Since I wasn't trying to perfectly draw his face realistically or anything, I threw on a pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth and then leaned back to see how the final product looked.

A few little things bothered me, but since it was just a doodle and no one besides myself would be seeing it, I let it be.

With a small sigh I went to close my sketch book but as I moved to flip it closed a hand pressed down on the page and held the pad to my desk. Surprised, I looked up to find Shikamaru himself standing there.

He groggily rubbed his eyes and yawned once more while slipping the drawing pad from my desk, holding it in his hands.

"You drew me." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Uhh, yeah," I replied, a little nervous about the situation at hand. The male blinked once more and then sent me a lazy smirk.

"Nice. You made me look better than I really do though."

I felt a slight blush rise to my cheeks in embarrassment, but quickly brushed it aside.

"Not at all. You look just fine."

"Well thanks, I guess that's a compliment considering how much effort I put in," he replied jokingly, handing me back my notebook. I laughed and stretched out my hand to take it from him, only to have it snatched again, this time by Naruto.

"Woah!" He gawked, holding the pad up in the air in front of him. "That's so cool, Aerin!"

"Naruto!" I hissed. "Quiet down!"

He blinked at me, lowering the drawing to his chest. "Why?"

"It's just a doodle," I tried to explain. My eyes wandered around the room and I noted that there were a lot more people present than before. "I don't want everyone to see it."

"But why?" The blonde questioned further, cocking his head to the side questionably. "It's really cool, so why not?"

"I don't know," I admitted truthfully. "I'm not confident about it, so having other people see it makes me worry."

Naruto finally gained a look of realization and flipped the pad closed, handing it back to me. I was quickly to pack it back in my bag.

"Sorry," he apologized solemnly, making my heart crack. The teen was quick to perk up however, and sent me a large grin. "But next time don't be so embarrassed! Your drawings are great, believe it!"

Pushing another round of embarrassment to the side, I managed to send him a small smile which I genuinely meant. "Thanks, Naruto." The blonde only continued to grin.

"Oi, dobe."

Our attention all turned to Sasuke, who was lounging in his desk towards the front of the room. His eyes met mine before sliding closed, his head rolling away slightly. "Stop annoying Aerin."

"I'm not annoying her!" Naruto protested angrily. He turned towards me, smiling radiantly. "Right?"

With a short laugh I grabbed Naruto's wrist, dragged him towards me and then reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, making him stumble back slightly. "No, Naruto, you're not. You're a sweetheart."

I released him and he stood up with a grin, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, a little pink tint to his cheeks. I laughed at his reaction and turned to look back at Sasuke when the door was shut. All of the students returned to their seats and Kakashi Sensei stepped into the room, heading to his desk. He set his bag down beside his chair and then turned to face all of us, his visible eye creasing into a smile.

"Sorry I'm late class," he said, hand bending to his forehead in a type of disconcerted salute. "The copy machine in the staff lounge broke down and Anko Sensei was becoming mad so I-"

"Save it Sensei," Sakura said, waving her hand in the air nonchalantly, not looking interested at all. "It doesn't matter what excuse you give this time, what matters is that you're 35 minutes late for class."

Surprised, my eyes flicked to the clock, and sure enough Kakashi was exactly 35 minutes late.

'_Damn, I must've lost track of time,' _I thought to myself. I hadn't felt like it'd been _that _long…

"Well," Kakashi coughed, a bit awkwardly. "For the remainder of class I'd like you all to write a short story about something that happened to you recently. You don't need to use specific name – you can even change names if you want – but the story needs to be at least one page – front _and _back – long." He paused and placed a hand under his chin contemplatively. "For those of you who aren't familiar with my class, we tend to focus a lot on creative writing and delving into the deeper meaning of things. Also, sometimes I will hold contests to see who can write the best paper when given a certain topic. Today will not be one of those times, but for future reference, now you know what I mean. Any questions?"

The class remained silent and he nodded, turning back towards his desk. "Well then, you have the rest of the class, get to work."

With that I pulled out my notebook and a pencil and got to work. I had more than a few events I could think about writing.

* * *

When the bell rang I stood, threw my bag over my shoulder, and then ripped my story out of my notebook, handing it to Kakashi as I exited the room. He took it from me with a friendly smile and I quickly shot one back before I stepping into the hall.

Once again, Sasuke was there waiting for me. He stared at me blankly for a moment and then turned away, heading down the hall. I blinked once and followed after him, catching up easily.

I had a feeling this would be happening everyday from now on.

The two of us turned into the front hall and started towards the science classrooms. Sasuke stared straight ahead the whole time, eyes half lidded.

By now I had come to realize that Sasuke wasn't too much of a social guy while surrounded by others – or in general really – but I decided to try and evoke a word from him anyway.

"Sasuke," I poked his arm. His face didn't change. "Are you mad at me?" I asked, pushing my lower lip out.

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow and glanced over at me. "For what reason should I be?"

I smiled slightly. "I don't know, maybe you're upset because I told Naruto he was a sweetheart and not you."

Sasuke stared at me blankly for a moment before looking back ahead, not saying a word. I snickered slightly and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry though, Sasuke. I can assure you that somewhere deep inside your beating heart you are one as well."

The navy haired teen rolled his eyes and the two of us entered Orochimaru's classroom, shuffling to the back and sitting in our seats. Ino arrived soon after and greeted the both of us happily. Shino sneaked in after her and then Neji and Tenten just as the bell rang.

Just as the two were sitting down Orochimaru emerged from his office and strode to the door, slamming it shut loudly.

"Today we will be dissecting frogs," he told us, eyes wandering around the class. "You will all get into groups of 5 and go to a lab station. Your things are already there waiting for you. However, if you do not know scalpels are sharp – they cut things. Try not to cut anything important."

The class remained silent so he began looking at us as if we were stupid. "What are you doing? Get to work!"

With that we all hopped up from out seats and started towards the lab stations. I started trailing after Ino and Sasuke when Orochimaru called me.

"Miss Grey," he said, and I stared at him wide eyed. "I believe I said groups of _five, _correct?"

I nodded. "Yes…"

His already slim eyes narrowed further. "Then I can only presume you don't know how to count."

I glanced over to the lab station where Ino, Sasuke, Neji, Tenten and Shino were all standing, looking scared for me.

Five people.

"You may join this group up front," Orochimaru finally stated, looking over to a group of four gathered around one of the stations closer to his spot. The teens already there all looked to me, not seeming to be happy.

I didn't argue however and quickly shuffled to their lab station. They all looked at me with judging eyes and I tried not to look like a shy little kid.

One of the guys had silver had that covered most of his face and was wearing emerald colored lipstick. Another more tan looking male stood beside him. His black hair was pulled up into a ponytail and he almost seemed to be smirking.

Directly to my left was a large guy who seemed to be much older than a teenager. He had orange hair that was cut weird, making him look bald in certain areas. He was a pretty big guy and was definitely intimidating. On his other side was a girl with bright pink hair that jetted out from a beanie atop her head, a strand parting down the middle of her face.

"So," the silver haired one leaned his arm down onto the counter top and with a grin met my eyes. "You're the fresh meat, eh?"

I blinked, not completely sure how to respond to that. "Yeah, I guess so…"

He opened his mouth to say something else but the pink haired girl interrupted him, flipping the scalpel off the table and into her hand, pointing it at his face threateningly. "Stop messing around with the girl, Sakon. We're supposed to be dissecting this fucking frog."

He reared back and black haired male beside him snatched the scalpel from her.

"Kidomaru!" She roared and the tan male hushed her, holding the sharp object out of reach.

"Calm the hell down, Tayuya," he instructed and the female whipped her head away making a clicking sound. Kidomaru rolled his eyes and then held the tool out towards the large orange haired teen.

"Jirobo, you can start."

With a court nod the male took it from the other and stepped up to the table. Without any hesitation he pressed the scalpel into the stomach of the small frog and sliced it open. I stood there and watched without disgust nor fascination.

I really had no idea what the hell we were supposed to be doing with the frog anyway – all Orochimaru had instructed us to do was dissect it – we didn't even have a sheet to write on. Only those instructions.

Jirobo handed the scalpel to Tayuya and she readily sliced up the head of the frog, cutting straight down the center of its face. I flinched a little at that.

Dissecting things wasn't really my idea of fun – or even enjoyable – it just didn't sit right with me, even if it was dead before hand.

The scalpel then was passed to Kidomaru and then Sakon, both who sliced up another limb of the frog with no remorse. While they were doing that I took a moment to glance over at the clock position above the door. Only 15 minutes of the class still remained, yet it felt like it couldn't get here soon enough.

"Oi."

I turned my head back towards the group and stared at Sakon. He was holding the scalpel out to me.

"If you wanna get credit for participating then you have to actually do something," he told me seriously and I furrowed my brow slightly, his tone portraying anything but friendliness. I guess I shouldn't have expected it though.

"Fine," I complied and stepped forward, stretching my hand out to take the scalpel from him. Sakon lowered the tool into my hand carefully, but before I could get a grasp on it something bumped into my side causing me to stumble…and causing the blade of the scalpel to subsequently land in my palm before bouncing out and stabbing into the face of the frog.

I stared wide-eyed at the scalpel in surprise and after a moment a drop of red landed beside it, causing me to look up at my hand. Blood was already dripping off my hand and trailing down my fingertips.

"Fuck!" I hissed quietly and shoved my hand into the pocket of my jacket. I could feel the liquid slip in-between the creases in my fingers.

"Fuck fuck fuck," I whispered, quickly turning and scurrying away from the group. I approached Ino and the others and could hear Kidomaru calling Orochimaru's name in the background.

Stopping at the end of their lab station they all looked over at me questionably. However, before one of them could open their mouth to ask what is was I was there for I pulled my still bleeding hand from my jacket pocket and held it out. The faces of all five immediately contorted with either concern or surprise and I shoved my hand back into my pocket when I felt another drop fall from my palm.

Taking over the situation, Neji swiftly stepped around Tenten and pressed his hand into my shoulder leading me towards the door. However, before we could get even half way there Orochimaru stepped out from his office and blocked our path. He looked down at me with what I could tell was fake concern because his lips threatened to pull into a wide grin.

"Miss Grey, didn't I say not to cut yourself?" He questioned my sternly and I bit my lip angrily.

"Actually, I believe you said not to cut anything important," I ground out, trying not to completely lose my temper at this man whom I already hated despite him being one of my teachers.

Orochimaru shot me a very unamused look. "Now Miss Grey," he reached his pale hand out towards me and I almost took a step back. "Why don't you come back into my office so I can see the damage?"

I started to open my mouth to reply but the feel of a hand grasping my upper arm made me halt, and I looked over to find Sasuke standing on my other side, nearly glaring at Orochimaru.

"The damage is clear already," he spoke, eyes looking down at my pocket which was now taking on a dipper tint of red than it was already. "This is not a job for you, but the school nurse." And with that Sasuke pulled me towards the classroom door, not waiting for Orochimaru to respond.

We stopped in the doorframe momentarily and I felt Neji's hand slip off my shoulder. I looked up at the two just in time to see Neji dip his head at Sasuke and turn to head back into the classroom – not before gently patting my shoulder once again however.

As Sasuke squeezed my upper arm, preparing to drag me wherever it was we were going, I briefly looked back into the classroom. Sakon, Tayuya, Jirobo, and Kidomaru were all still standing around the lab station, nearly sinister grins on their face, and Orochimaru was sulking back into the office, looking very displeased.

I frowned at the scene at then followed Sasuke down the hall as he lead us into the front of the school and then into a small room adjoining the main office. The room was all white and filled with medical equipment and many shelves and books. The Uchiha led me to one of 2 lanky beds and sat me on the mattress.

"Stay here," he instructed, onyx eyes meeting mine sternly before he slid back out into the hall.

Blinking, I followed his instructions and stayed on the bed, glancing around the room. Clearly this was the nurses' office – no questioning it. But the size of it made me surprised. My old school didn't even have a nurse's office – the people in the main one just had Band-Aids for people that needed them. There must've been a lot of fights happening at this one…

"Jesus…!" I looked up to find Shizune jogging into the room, looking at me with concern. She knelt down in front of me swiftly. "Show me your hand."

I did so and pulled it out from my sweatshirt, holding it out to her. By now the bleeding had slowed a little and blood on the far edges of my hand had dried.

Shizune made an unpleasant noise and then stood, striding over to one of the many cabinets and heaving it open. While she did so I took note that Sasuke had returned with her and was now standing next to the closed doorway.

"How did this happen?" Shizune questioned from across the room, continuing to pull things out of the cabinet.

I felt anger flare within me at the thought of how it did, but answered calmly. "We were dissecting frogs in class and I accidently cut myself with a scalpel."

The brunette paused in her gatherings to repeat, "'Frogs?'" once before grabbing one last bottle, placing it in her arms, and heading over to me.

My hand still out, she uncapped one of the bottles she had brought over and dabbed a cotton ball on the top. Not knowing if it would burn or not I braced myself as she began cleaning the wound. The cut tingled uncomfortably at the touch but it lessened after a moment.

"Most girls would complain about the burning," Shizune mumbled, trying to make light of the situation. I smiled slightly.

"That's barely anything. I've felt worse."

I saw her lips twitch up.

Shizune discarded the cotton ball when the wound was no longer covered in blood and reached for a roll of medical bandages. The cut itself was shinning with red liquid, but Shizune quickly placed the white bandage on it before it could stain my hand again.

"It's not all too deep," she assured me while circling the bandage between my thumb. "It should be alright in a few days, but until then it will most likely hurt. You might-"

The ring of the bell interrupted her and I quickly glanced over to Sasuke who didn't even bat an eyelash, not moving from his spot inside the closed door.

"As I was saying," Shizune continued. "You might end up having to re-bandage it every once and a while, so I'll give you a roll of this stuff before you leave."

"Thanks," I replied as she cut the bandage and taped it down. Shizune smiled at me and stood, brushing her hands on her skirt.

"Not a problem, next time try and be more carefully though, okay?"

I smiled back at her, ignoring the nag in the back of my head. "Haha, yeah, I'll try."

"Alright then, I better be going," she turned towards the door. "Don't forget to keep the wound clean!" She told me, her hand grasping the door handle. She suddenly paused and looked to her right at Sasuke. "And thank you for bringing her here Mister Uchiha."

"Hn…"

With that the brunette took her leave just as the bell for third period rang. Once the door finally clicked shut I glanced to Sasuke.

"You're gonna be late."

"I already am," he replied pushing himself off the doorframe. The navy haired teen stopped a foot in front of me. "Now – how'd you really get that cut?"

I looked him in the eyes. "Really?"

Sasuke only continued to stare and I sighed, placing my stiff, bandaged hand into my lap. "Sakon was handing the scalpel to me and Tayuya bumped me and caused me to cut my hand."

Sasuke's eye narrowed at the story and I stared at him questionably. With a sigh he ran a hand through his hair.

"What's wrong?" I questioned.

Sasuke glared at the wall to his side, quiet for a moment. "There must be something about you that attracts all the people that you shouldn't want to attract…"

I blinked. "What…?"

He met my eyes. "First the Akatsuki and now Orochimaru and his henchmen…"

"Sasuke—"

He turned to face me and bent down to my eye level. "You need to stay out of trouble – their trouble – understand?"

I nodded slowly. Sasuke straightened back up and began pulling off his sweatshirt, causing me to blink yet again.

"What are you doing?"

He pulled the clothing over his head and raised an eyebrow at me. "Your jacket is stained with blood."

I stared at him. "Okay…and?" I shrugged it off my shoulders and balled it up. "It's not like I'm naked underneath."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "It's raining out, idiot. Take the jacket."

"Raining?" I questioned in surprise. "But it was nice out this morning…"

"Yes, but it's been raining since the middle of first hour," Sasuke stated. He handed me the sweatshirt. "Now put it on."

I stared at the black ball of cloth in my hands. "What about you?"

He shrugged. "I'll just steal Naruto's."

"Sasuke!" I scolded and his lips twitched up slightly. Smiling at the moment, I pulled the sweatshirt over my head and stood, pulling it down to my waist. It fit just fine but the sleeves fully engulfed my arms and hands.

With that now taken care of I picked up my old sweatshirt to throw it into my bag when I realized I'd left it in Orochimaru's room. However, just as I was about to curse, Sasuke whipped it out of nowhere and held it out to me.

"Well, okay," I said aloud, grabbing it from him with my good hand. I then shoved my bloodied sweatshirt into my bag along with the roll of gauze Shizune had left and slung it over my shoulder.

Sasuke started towards the door and I followed behind him.

"Sorry for making you late," I said as we stepped into the hall and the Uchiha shrugged, turning away.

"Its fine, Ino can vouch for me anyway."

With a wave over his shoulder as a farewell, Sasuke turned the corner and started towards his class. I headed in the opposite direction and traveled down the stairs to the second floor. When I arrived at Kurenai sensei's room the door was open so I walked right in. The area was filled with chatter and only a few seemed to notice my enterance, one of them being Kurenai herself, who was sitting behind her desk at the front of the room. She smiled at me.

"Shizune already notified me, Miss Grey. You're excused."

Nodding, I headed back to the counter where Deidara and Sasori were seated, taking my own spot. They both were staring at me.

"Can I help you?" I questioned, pulling my project out from my bag. Deidara leaned forward questioningly.

"Why the hell you so late, yeah?"

I stared back at him. "Because I am."

He clicked his tongue and leaned back, placing his hands back on his clay. "Jeez, un. I was just fucking wondering…"

I felt my eye twitch. "Well sorry about that, Deidara. But after you threatened me and thoroughly bruised my arm yesterday, I didn't think we were going to have any friendly chats."

The blondes jaw tightened and his blue eyes narrowed, but he didn't speak another word. Sasori was still glancing at me from the corner of his eyes, but I brushed it off and pulled out my pencil, continuing the sketches that I had started the day before.

It wasn't till the end of class that I finally got tired of Sasuke's long sleeves being in my way and pushed them up to my elbows. In that exact moment I also felt two pairs of eyes return to me, and looked up to find both Deidara and Sasori blatantly staring at me again. This time, however, they were staring at my hand.

The bandages were wrinkled because I had been using that hand to draw all hour, and a thin line of red creased the middle of them. It sucked that the hand I had wounded was the one that I wrote with but there was nothing I could do about it except bare the pain or use my left – and that definitely wasn't an option.

"Shit, yeah. The hell'd you do?" Deidara grinned, finally getting wind of why I was late.

"Had an accident with a scalpel," I replied, trying not to get on his bad side more than needed.

"Oh yeah?" He continued. "In what class?"

"Physics."

Sasori suddenly cut in. "With Orochimaru?"

I nodded, surprised. "Yeah…have you guys had him?"

The tension in the air surrounding our area suddenly became a lot thicker at the mention of his name.

Neither replied to my question, but only turned and glared down at their projects, getting back to work. From their reactions I got enough of an answer though.

From what it seemed the Akatsuki had some type of beef with the guy too.

That couldn't mean anything good.

* * *

The rest of the day went by peacefully. After art I ate lunch in the actual inside cafeteria with the same group of people I had the day before. They all questioned me on what the bandage on my hand was and I told them. This evoked almost all the same precautions that Sasuke had given me earlier in the day, warning me to try and stay away from both Orochimaru and Akatsuki.

I had every doubt that doing so would be easy…

Once lunch was finished Kiba, Naruto and I all walked to Health together. Deidara was there again, however this time it seemed that he could've cared less about my presence, for he stared at his desk all hour, hands folded together and seeming to be contemplating something.

Jiraiya put on a video about how to eat healthy, what food to eat, and such. Naruto fell asleep in the middle of it and I had to keep flicking him in the shoulder when he started to snore. Kiba fell asleep as well, but since he slept without a noise I let him be.

After health was over Naruto and I split off from Kiba and headed over to the gym. Gai took attendance and then announced that we'd be playing dodgeball. When the others left to change I had to explain to him about my hand and he excused me for the day, allowing me to simply sit on the bleachers' and watch.

The game ended in a tie after the teams were in a deadlock for the whole class – each being as equally powerful as the other.

When Sasuke emerged from the guys changing room right before class end I made a point to insist that I give him his sweatshirt back, but he refused, for it was still raining out, and told me just to give it back to him whenever. He also once again assured me he'd steal Naruto's even though I knew he never would.

A moment later the bell rang and everyone dispersed, heading their separate ways. I headed into the parking lot and got into my car, drove home, and collapsed on the couch once there.

Only two days into the year and I was already drained. It seemed that things would be a bit more challenging than I thought.

* * *

**It's been a while, hasn't it? My bad. I got a little off track and then went on vacation. **

**There. That's the excuse I'm sticking with. **

**Anyway. I'm tired, so I'm not gonna make this AN too long.**

**Hell, I'm so tired I don't even know what to say...**

**Oh.**

**The North-East states need Waffle House's too.**

**That is my demand.**

**Okay.**

**Well.**

**I'm gonna check Tumblr and Facebook one last time before shutting down.**

**"Well, It's Not So Bad" update is next in line.**

**Toodaloo. **

**Please Review~**


	6. Chapter 6

The next day I woke up, took a shower, got dressed, ate, and then left for school. I arrived in the parking lot about the same time as the day before, 15 minutes before first hour started, and once again managed to find a parking spot close to the school. My hand ached as I lifted my bag from the back seat of my car and, after slinging it over my shoulder; I stared down at my bandaged palm with distain.

Orochimaru's class was something I definitely wasn't looking forward to attending every day.

Like yesterday, Shikamaru was the only person in the classroom when I arrived. His snores echoed off the walls, so pulled out my iPod and jammed some tunes. Soon others started flooding in and I had to remove the headphones from my ears when Naruto engaged me in a conversation. Sakura and Hinata soon joined in and we conversed until Kakashi sensei finally arrived.

Exactly 35 minutes late, he set his briefcase down beside his desk before facing us and giving us the lesson plan for the day, not bothering with the excuse this time around.

Soon I'd realize that Kakashi's class was definitely the best for multiple reasons – one being the fact that the hour was nearly half up before he even started teaching and another being that he was so nonchalant about everything he taught that I immediately took on the same attitude. Art, Health and Gym weren't all too bad at the moment either, but the presence of the Akatsuki always left me a bit on edge.

Sasuke and I would walk to second hour together, head back to our seats, and I would begin to pray that we wouldn't have a lab and that the groups wouldn't be limited to five people. My prayers seemed unanswered though, because soon I caught onto the fact that Orochimaru loved to dissect animals and therefore we would be doing it almost every day – groups of five still a necessary part of it all.

However, as I would dejectedly begin to walk towards the 4 teenagers gathered around the lab station nearest to the front, Sasuke would stop me and walk ahead, right up to their station. I managed to get a glimpse of the fours dissatisfied faces before Ino grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to where she, Neji, Tenten, and Shino were gathered around the black countertop. When Ino saw my confused look she'd explained, "Sasuke has been with that crowd before – he knows how to handle them – don't worry about it," and I tried not to think over it too much. But then, of course, I wanted to know why Sasuke had been with Tayuya and Sakon and them before, or why he seemed to be the only person Orochimaru didn't want to kill if he dared stand up against him. At the same time though, I didn't know when or if I'd even get the answer to my questions – direct from Sasuke at least.

When second hour was done I'd split off from the group and head to the stairs, taking them down to the second floor. Usually Sasori would already be seated at the table before I'd even walk in, and I'd take my place across from his without a word. Deidara would always show up right as Kurenai was about to call his name for attendance, and soon I began to wonder if maybe Deidara stood in the hall and secretly waited for her to call his name so he could make some type of grand enterance.

He would then take his spot across the table and not say a word, staring anywhere but directly at me. At first I thought that maybe it was because Deidara still had some sort of vendetta against me from what had happened the first day, but soon found myself clueless when I subtlety began to catch him glancing at me from the corner of his eyes for a brief moment before looking away again. Like in most cases, I told myself to not think on it and moved on with my day, the thought still floating in the back of my mind.

Lunch consisted of eating and talking, not much more. Everyone seemed to stick to their original seats so I usually ended up squished between Hinata and Kiba, but didn't really mind. And once lunch was over I'd throw my trash out and walk shoulder to shoulder with Naruto and Kiba back into the building, heading to Health class.

Most days I would be greeted by a small ball of notebook paper hitting me in the head thanks to Deidara, whose attitude seemed to have changed between the third and fourth hours of the day, his cocky grin returning. Hidan and Kisame would only sit there and snicker with him, as if it was the funniest thing in the world, and I would roll my eyes at them, sitting in my seat with Kiba on my left and Naruto on my right.

Jiraiya would make us do book work for the first ten minutes, lecture us for another fifteen, and then play a video for the rest of the hour. While the video was playing he was usually back at his desk, trying to hide his girly giggles.

I had no clue what he was looking at, but at the same time I got the feeling that I didn't want to know.

When Health was over Naruto and I would split off from Kiba and take the short trip to the gym. Kids would trickle in and once the bell rang Gai would skip from his office, take attendance, and then dismiss us to go get change while shouting something about "Youth". I'd get changed in my section of the locker room in peace and then head out into the gym where the males were already gathered, always the fast changers.

After the scalpel to the hand accident Gai told me to sit out another day for good measure, but soon I was back in action – even if gym wasn't my favorite thing.

We'd play floor hockey or basketball for most of the class – after stretching and warming up of course. We had yet to do any testing of sorts and I was grateful for it, but Gai soon ruined my hope by announcing that testing would be done in the second week of school, not the first.

When gym was finished I'd head back into the locker rooms and get changed at whatever pace I wanted. Since I drove to school I didn't feel the need to rush to get out as the bell rang.

Hinata and Sakura would get changed fairly fast and be sure to bid me goodbye on their way out. I'd say my bye back and begin to gather up my things. Konan was silent on her way out, but we always seemed to meet eyes for a moment before she disappeared.

So far Konan wasn't giving me the bad vibe that the rest of the Akatsuki were giving me. She didn't seem to want to intentionally hurt anyone for just a little reason, and I was grateful that she hadn't tried anything on me yet despite being on the Akatsuki's watch list.

By the time I exited the school and headed to my car the parking lot was nearly empty and I had no trouble maneuvering my car out of the parking lot and driving it the few blocks home.

This became the schedule that I adapted, and so far it had yet to be dented.

* * *

When the end of the week finally rolled around I found myself in gym class once again, dodging the colorful foam balls that were being thrown at my team and I. The class was currently engaged in a game of Dodge Ball and our team was definitely fighting hard.

The teams consisted of Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Hinata and I against Konan, Itachi, Sasori, Hidan, and some kid named Tobi. The teams were uneven; Lee absent for the day, but the Akatsuki composed team had no trouble with the disadvantage.

Naruto cursed as a ball smacked into is shoulder, spiraling into the air too far for him to catch, and jogged back to the out area whist glaring at Sasori, whose lips almost seemed to twitch up in amusement.

I managed to look back forward just in time to see a ball shooting towards me. It hit me right in the gut, but thankfully I was able to act fast enough, wrapping my arms around it before the ball could drop to the ground. Naruto cheered and quickly hopped back into the game while across the way Hidan let loose a stream of curses and, once seeing he held my attention, angrily flipped me the bird while retreating to their own out area. I grinned in response – which only seemed to piss him off more – and took the ball in my hands chucking it at Itachi. The Uchiha blocked with a ball he had just caught and deflected it straight up into the air before catching it with his free hand. His eyes shifted over to meet mine and I stood there for a moment, gawking in disbelief, before turning and starting towards the edge of the court. Before I could even step out however, Sasuke caught a ball his brother had thrown back and motioned me back in with a simple angle of his head, not taking his hard eyes off the opposing team.

With I sigh I turned around and jogged back into my position, grabbing a foam ball on the floor nearby. The battle between our teams raged on until Gai stopped us and released the class for the day, allowing them to change.

Heading into the locker room I stripped off my clothes and tried to fan myself with my hand while gathering my regular clothes. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I'm not the most active or fit person. If I had to run for my life then I'm sure I could do it with the help of an adrenalin boost, but otherwise…eh.

"Bye, Aerin," Sakura said with a smile and wave as she paused in the doorway of my small section of the locker room. I finished pulling my shorts on and waved back, smiling a little.

"Bye, Sakura."

Hinata stopped in a minute later and smiled shyly, waiting till I pulled my t-shirt over my head to say her farewell.

"See you Monday," I responded and the navy haired female nodded, waving once more before exiting the locker room.

Sighing, I shoved my uniform into my locker and then hoisted my bag over my shoulder, starting towards the exit of the locker room. When I stepped into the gym the bell had already rung and most everyone was gone. Across the gym next to the guys locker room was Hidan, leaning against the wall with a tan guy I had never seen before. The tan male had tattoos of stitches all over his body and shaggy brown hair – and when he noticed me standing there I also realized that he had bright green eyes.

When his attention turned to me so did Hidan's and the male pushed himself off the wall, his mouth forming a crooked grin as he yelled to me.

"Fucking luck saved you today!" He said, and I assumed that he was talking about the fact that I had managed to catch his ball even though I hadn't been paying attention. "But don't count on shit like that happening again, bitch!"

I scoffed and turned to walk out, mumbling to myself, "even if it was luck you don't need to be a pissy bitch about the fact that you got out, idiot. It's just a game…"

However, I didn't account for the fact that in an empty gym sound travels, and as I was pushing the door into the hall open I almost felt his anger sweep over the area.

"The fuck did you just say you heathen!" He howled, and I glanced back to find him stomping toward me, face red with anger.

"Shit!-" I cursed and quickly exited the gym, heading to the nearby door and exiting the building completely, starting towards my car at an uncomfortably quick pace. I threw my shit in the back seat and hopped in the front, revving the engine to life. When I checked the mirrors there was no sign of Hidan and I breathed a sigh of relief before putting the car in drive and heading towards home.

I really needed to be more careful around him and the Akatsuki in general. For some reason Hidan and Deidara just seemed to be able to anger me easily, and that was bad considering they had short tempers as well. The rest didn't seem all too bad so far, but that still didn't mean I thought any better of them.

"Well," I turned onto my street briefly and then into my driveway. "It's the weekend at least so I won't have to deal with them till Monday."

With that thought in mind, I lugged all my things into the house and headed to the fridge. I blinked and bumped my forehead against the door of the freezer when I got sight of the nearly empty device.

"I guess I'll have to go shopping tonight then…"

And so, around 4:30 when my stomach finally couldn't take being empty anymore, I grabbed my keys and wallet, laced my shoes back on, and headed into town. For some not at all odd reason, I was craving some type of noodle dish, and suddenly remembered Ichiraku's. My brain immediately became set on the idea of ramen.

15 minutes later I pulled into the small strip mall, parked and headed inside. There were only two other people there beside me – two males – so I took a seat at the end of the counter. Teuchi emerged from the back a moment later and looked to surprised to see me, but perked up instantly, slinging the towel in his hands over his shoulder.

"Well, hello there Miss Aerin! I'm glad to see that you're back again!"

I laughed. "Of course, how could I not?"

He chuckled heartily. "Now that's what I like to here! Would you like the same as last time?"

I nodded. "Please." And he smiled again before heading back into the kitchen to prepare my meal.

Since I knew that it'd be a few minutes I started to pull out my phone to entertain myself, but stopped when my name was questionably called.

"Aerin?"

Blinking, I looked over to the two men seated down the counter. Kakashi sensei's head poked around the male nearest me and when our eyes met he smiled through his mask.

"I thought that was you."

"Sensei," I greeted, still a bit surprised. "I didn't expect to see you here."

He chuckled lightly and leaned his arm on the counter to support his head. "I could say the same to you."

I smiled. "Well, Naruto treated me to dinner here once, so I figured since the food's delicious I'd come back again."

Kakashi chuckled again, but the male beside him tilted his head to the side and blinked. "Naruto…?"

"Ah, Iruka-sensei, this is Aerin." Kakashi placed his hand on the man's shoulder and motioned to me. "She just moved here and happens to be a student of mine."

"Nice to meet you," I said, raising my hand in the air slightly as a greeting. The brown haired male blinked his dark eyes again and the grinned widely, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.

"Sorry for being rude," he apologized and extended his hand towards me. His grin diminished slightly and he looked me in the eyes as I reached across the empty seat and grasped his hand. "My name is Iruka Umino. It's nice to meet you, Aerin."

"Same here," I replied with a friendly laugh, and Iruka did the same.

"So," he continued, "I heard you say that Naruto brought you here?"

I nodded, slightly rolling my eyes at the memory as I spun on my stool to face him. "Yeah, about a week about I came into town to get some food, but when I was on my way back home Naruto ran into me and knocked it everywhere." I laughed. "So after being embarrassed and apologizing he told me that he'd make it up to me by taking me to dinner – this was his restaurant of choice."

By the time I had finished giving the overview of what had happened Iruka's eyebrow was twitching furiously, and after a moment he exploded.

"What the hell is wrong with that kid?!" He hissed, fist slamming down onto the countertop. "Why was he running around a populated area at that time of day? He ran into someone and ruined their meal! And besides that _this _is where he takes them to make up for it?!" Iruka paused and rubbed his temples, an irritable sigh escaping from his lips. "That boy, I swear…he needs to go back to the academy…"

Beside him Kakashi sighed and forced a small smile, placing his hand on the fellow teachers shoulder.

"It's alright Iruka; at least he made it up to her. This is Naruto we're talking about."

The brown haired male sighed and after a moment perked back up and faced me, a small, regretful smile on his face. "I'm sorry on behalf of Naruto…"

I blinked in surprise and quickly held my hands up, waving them around frantically. "No need to be sorry! He already made it up to me – it was a complete accident and we're cool!"

Iruka stared at me for another moment and then laughed lightly, running a hand through his hair. "The boy hasn't change since middle school," he said with a small grin and then stood from his seat, pulling his wallet out.

"Sorry Kakashi," he said, placing some money down on the counter. "I've got a lot of papers to grade so I'll be taking my leave."

"Not a problem," Kakashi replied, raising his hand in goodbye. "See you."

"Bye," Iruka replied and then turned to me, smiling once again. "It was nice to meet you, Aerin."

"You too!" I replied wholeheartedly and with that the brown haired male walked out of the shop.

Kakashi chuckled at him once he was gone and a moment later Teuchi popped out from the kitchen with a bowl of steaming ramen in his hands. I grinned with anticipation as he set it on the counter in front of me, making him chuckle.

"Order up," he said playfully and I thanked him before breaking my chopsticks apart. Before I could dive into the bowl the sound of change hitting the counter made me pause and look over to Kakashi who was standing to leave. When he noticed that he had caught my attention he smiled, the fabric of his mask stretching, and gave me a two finger salute.

"See you Monday," he said and I smiled back, raising my hand in goodbye. Suddenly Kakashi's smile disappeared however, and he reached out, grabbing my hand. I stiffened in surprise, but didn't try to pull it back as he tilted my palm towards him and leaned closer to it. After a moment his thumb over the now scarring tissue and I flinched since the area was still sensitive.

"What is this from?" He questioned, and I met his curious stare.

"I got cut with a scalpel in Science," I replied without averting my eyes. His eyebrow raised.

"You cut your_self_?"

"Well…I mean, not really…"

His eyebrow lowered back into its original position, his eyes still locked with mine. "Who did it then?"

I finally averted my eyes and Kakashi squeezed my hand as a warning. I huffed and puffed out my cheeks, turning my head to the side.

"Sakon, I guess…or Tayuya…"

Kakashi finally released my hand and I let it fall back into my lap, turning back to him. He straightened up, mask creased into a frown.

"Orochimaru is your teacher?"

I blinked, surprised as to how fast he concluded that, but nodded. "Yeah."

"I see…" He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Be careful around him," he said and turned, walking towards the door. His hand rose in a final goodbye and without another word Kakashi exited the shop, disappearing from sight a moment later.

I stared after him for a good 15 seconds before turning back and beginning to slurp my cooling ramen.

It seemed that even Kakashi knew Orochimaru only meant bad news too. But considering how fast he had drawn to the conclusion that he was my teacher, Kakashi must've had some beef with him too…

* * *

After finishing my ramen I paid for my meal, bid Teuchi goodbye, and then headed back to my car, beginning the hunt for the grocery store. Surprisingly, when one lives in a house by themselves, food lasts much longer, so I had yet to make a trip to the store.

Soon enough however, I found the large building and pulled into the parking lot. After parking, I shut my car off and headed inside. The store was spacious enough – one on side of the store I could spot a produce area and on the opposite end the frozen food area. I decided I'd start with the fruit since I was taught to always get the frozen food last and grabbed a cart, heading in that direction.

I picked out some fruits – mostly apples, pears, strawberries, and kiwi (because kiwi are delicious) – and then decided I'd be good and picked up a bag of baby carrots and some green beans.

Vegetables really weren't my favorite things. Carrots would probably be my favorite if I had to choose, but I liked fruit better overall.

Anyway, I picked out the healthy items of my diet and then strolled deeper into the store, glancing around the ceiling at the directional signs. I headed down the first aisle and grabbed some bread, then the next and picked up a few boxes of cereal.

At the end of every row I would just make a 180 degree turn and start down the next, picking up whatever I needed and completely ignoring the signs on the ceiling. I circled the whole store until I ended up in the frozen food isle. And just as I turned into the colder area I was met with silver and brown hair.

I stopped instantly and stared down the aisle at the two males. They had yet to notice me, so I took a step backwards, hoping I could maybe just disappear before they caught into my presence, but as soon as I did the brown haired males head creaked in my direction and his green eyes met mine, eyebrow raising a millimeter.

"What the fuck kinda ice-cream should we buy? All this shit is good and it's so damn hard to choose. Kakuzu-" Hidan looked back to his companion and began to glare at him when he realized that Kakuzu hadn't been listening at all. "You fucker! What're you…" and then slowly he followed the tattooed mans gaze. When his eyes landed on me his hand slipped from the refrigerator door and loosely fell to his side, a scary, psychotic type of grin stretching at his lips.

I could almost feel the weight of their stares, and after a moment Hidan took a step forward. My heart beat harshly once, but I didn't move. And just as Hidan moved forward again, Kakuzu placed his hand on the silver haired teens shoulder and shot him a stern look. Hidan scowled at him and angrily ripped his shoulder from the man's grasp, turning the opposite direction. Kakuzu followed after him and soon they were gone from sight.

I stood in my spot for another moment, eyes still fixated on the place where their backs had disappeared. Soon my feet began moving however, and I headed down the row, collecting the frozen items that I needed. A million thoughts were flying through my head, but at the same time I didn't want to think at all.

With the world shifting past me, I headed up to the cash registers and loaded my items onto the belt as the middle aged lady behind the register began to ring everything up. When she was done I didn't really hear her say the total but I handed her my credit card anyway, and with one swipe the transaction was complete.

I loaded the last bag into my cart and then began to walk away when the woman smiled and wished me a goodnight. It actually to effort to force one back and wish her the same, but I managed it to be somewhat sincere.

As I headed out into the now cooler and dimly lit parking lot all I wanted was to be done. I just wanted to get in my car and drive home and not think. I just wanted to forget that I had seen Hidan and Kakuzu and fall asleep and wake up in the morning without any knowledge of the event.

Finally, I reached my car and swiftly popped open the trunk, beginning to pack the plastic grocery bags into it. The action took no more than a minute to complete, but just as I was placing the second to last bag into the car an arm – much more muscular and a little tan than my own – stretched past mine and set the final bag in the trunk.

My heart pounded again. I already knew who it was.

"So," warm breath fanned over my neck and the hand that had placed the final bag into the trunk slid onto my hip. "What the fuck is a bitch like you doing out at this hour? And _alone_? Gotta say you've got some balls to be doing that."

Inhaling deeply I regained my composure the best I could and then shoved his hand off my hip, turning around to face him. I was caught off guard again though, when Hidan grabbed the open trunk on either side of my head and cage me in, leaning his face down to mine. He must've noticed my surprise for the sinister grin that I had seen earlier returned.

"I needed food," I finally said, replying to what he had said a moment ago. "Most of the time I don't have creepy pink eyed men trapping me by my car."

Hidan's grin then vanished and he stared at me with angry, half-lidded eyes, his face flat.

"For a bitch who's already been warned to shut the fuck up around us you sure don't seem to understand the concept," he drawled, one of his hands letting go of the trunk only to grip my waist again. He dug the pads of his fingers into the fabric of my pants roughly and I knew the pressure would leave bruises on my skin.

"What else am I supposed to do?" I replied honestly, staring up at his magenta eyes. "Just sit here and let you harass me?"

Hidan smirk and shifted his hand, his fingernails now pricking at the fabric on my hip. "Well," his hand squeezed tighter and I almost winced as pain blossomed on my side. His face got even closer to mine and suddenly the anger in his eyes was replaced with something sadistic yet seducing. "You're _different_. Jashin-sama would love a sacrifice like you."

I blinked slowly.

_Jashin? …sacrifice?_

"You won't be using me as a sacrifice anytime soon, you bastard."

My answer only seemed to make him shiver with a pleasure I didn't understand and his eyes took on a predatory glint. And before I could register anything his lips ghosted over mine – not even a kiss – and I reared back. Hidan then only chuckled, released my hip and then disappeared into the approaching darkness.

He didn't say another word, but he didn't need to. I had no idea what he was trying to accomplish by doing all of…_that_, but it seemed he had evoked the reaction he had wanted.

I didn't like it.

On the ride home I felt numb. There were too many things going through my head. Too many emotions, and I couldn't express them all at once.

When I pulled into the driveway of the house I shut the car off and simply sat there for a moment, trying to piece my thoughts together. And once I had put myself partially back together I got out, popped the trunk again, and carried all of the many white bags inside.

By the time I had finished unloading the car and putting all of the groceries where they belonged it was 8:00 in the evening and I felt like doing nothing but crawling into bed and sleeping. So that's exactly what I did.

The sheets were cold as I slid into them and the only light in the room was coming from a small lamp in the far corner, positioned on the edge of my dresser. My open eyes stared ahead at the wall and all I could do was think.

I could barely even put what I was thinking into words. There were too many questions and no train of thought. Half of what I was thinking was of the events that had occurred, but the other half was the plausible consequences that could come of it.

I was over thinking and I knew it. I was trying to give myself answers that I didn't have – like why Hidan confronted me like that? Why would I respond in such a way? What the hell does sacrifice mean? – And such. It was this terrible feeling of not knowing – but it wasn't new to me.

After my dad had been diagnosed with cancer it was all I could do because I didn't know the answers to all the questions I had – and neither did he. It was the same now. I had so many questions but I couldn't give them truthful answers.

Goddammit.

I didn't fall asleep until 9:30 when my eyes finally refused to say open any longer and fluttered shut. All I had realized through all my thinking was that I hated Hidan, that he was a douche and a psychopath, and that the Akatsuki were surely out to get me. I didn't know the reason as to why, but all I really needed to know was that it wasn't a good thing – and _trust me_. That much had become clear to me.

* * *

When I woke up in the morning I didn't take note of the time, only the fact that early rays of sunlight were peaking through my blinds.

I rolled to stare up at the ceiling and stretched my legs out.

I could already tell that my mood hadn't improved very much. I wasn't thinking about things anymore, but my happy mood still hadn't return and I was stuck in a slow moving neutral.

After a few more minutes I finally rolled out of bed and hit the shower. I stood in the steaming water until it began to run out. And after brushing my wet hair and drying off I dressed in a pair of baggy sweat pants and a tank top and then headed to the kitchen. Breakfast didn't sound very appealing, but I managed two pieces of toast.

For a while after that TV captured my entertainment when I found that a marathon of Criminal Minds was being played. At one point I got off the couch to use the bathroom and retrieve something to drink and snack on, but otherwise I didn't move. I just wasn't in the mood, you know? There really wasn't any other way to explain it.

And then not-so-suddenly, just Spencer Reid came back onto the TV screen, explaining something about the killer they were tracking, I heard my phone ringing from my bedroom. I quickly hopped off the couch and jogged to retrieve it. When I picked the device up the caller ID surprised me.

"Hello," I said flatly, and there was a slight shuffling sound on the other end.

"_Aerin_," Sasuke replied in his typical monotone voice. "_Come over to my place_."

I wasn't even surprised; I just tapped my foot on the ground and replied. "Why?"

"_Naruto decided that he wanted to throw a back to school party and for some reason he's made the location my house_," he answered, his tone agitated. "_So you're invited_."

"Thanks," I responded without hesitation, "but no thanks."

There was a long pause on the line before Sasuke finally spoke again.

"_No, you're coming_."

"Sasuke, no," I said, a hint of whine in my voice. "I can't, I-"

"_You're coming,_" he said again, his tone leaving no room for argument, but I tried anyway.

"Sasuke-"

"_What else do you have to do_?"

"…nothing, but-"

"_Then you're coming."_

"_Sasuke_," I tried again, but he interjected.

"_If you're not here by 6 than I'm coming to get you," _he said and I glanced at the clock. 5:12.

And then, just as I opened my mouth to try and explain why I didn't want to go again, the line went dead and the dial tone came on. Not even two seconds later did I receive a text with his address and I chucked the mobile device down onto the mattress, flopping onto it myself a moment later.

Apparently I was going to a party.

Just great.

* * *

**Well, I don't really have much to say. It's 11:45 PM and I'm motherfucking tired so I really can't even think anymore. I haven't been up this late in a while and I can feel it.**

**Anyway, sorry for any spelling errors I missed. I'm tired. My bad.**

**Also, I mentioned this in my other story, but I'm going on a mission trip from 6/15 -6/22 and I won't be able to update in that time period. So this is probably the last update of this story until I get back. Sorry 'bout that. I'm not out of school yet so I don't have a lot of time to type. **

**I actually typed the last 2,500 words of this in the last, oh, 3 or 4 hours I think. I don't understand why I get inspiration right when I consider the possibility of sleeping - but that's just how it is.**

**Damn, I'm tired. **

**Hopefully you liked the chapter.**

**I'm still not sure about pairings too, if you guys have any input.**

**Anyway, sleep, yeah.**

**Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

I stayed lying on my bed for a while after Sasuke's call. I really didn't want to go to any party. My mood wasn't that of a person ready to go and have a good time. All I wanted to do was sit at home and wait for Monday to come back around – school would surely distract me.

'_But going to this party will help distract me too,' _the smart side of my conscious argued and I sighed. I was being stupid and dreading something fun and distracting but I _just didn't want to go_.

…but Sasuke was going to make me. If I didn't get my ass over there he'd come to get me.

"Goddammit," I cursed and grabbed the pillow beside me. Dropping it onto my head I groaned.

For another minute I continued to lie there, but finally I kicked my legs and sat up, throwing the pillow on my face back to the head rest of the bed. Without another word or thought I quickly gathered my hair into a ponytail and then stalked out of the room, slipping my shoes on before grabbing my keys and starting my car.

At 5:59 I pulled up to the address Sasuke had given me and stepped out of the car, slamming the door shut behind me. And just as I marched up the walkway to the house the front door opened and Sasuke emerged, his own car keys in hand. When the Uchiha saw me he stopped in his tracks, looking as if he was surprised to see me there. All I did in return was step up next to him; point a finger in his face, and say, "I'm mad at you."

I don't think Sasuke's face could've looked more surprised.

However, just as I moved to push past him into the house he grabbed my wrist and stopped me. He locked his eyes with mine and after a moment just asked, "Why?"

"Because I didn't want to be here," I replied, half way between pouting and being angry. Sasuke only paused for a second and then rose his eyebrow.

"But you came here, didn't you?"

I scrunched up my nose. "Yeah, I came or else you would've forced me."

Sasuke then shrugged, scooted around me, and dragged me into the house all the while stating, "Sometimes a little force is necessary…"

At that point, I didn't want to argue with him anymore and allowed him to drag me through his home until we arrived in a large open area filled with couches. I immediately spotted Naruto talking with Kiba and Chouji nearby and the blonde must've sensed me staring at him for he glanced my way, his face lighting up when he spotted me.

"Aerin!" He cried and bolted across the room, nearly causing me to fall back on the ground as he wrapped his arms around me in a hug. At the moment I was still a little peeved about being at the party, but sighed and with a little smile hugged him back anyway.

"I'm glad you're here!" He said, pulling back, and I nodded.

"Yeah, Sasuke was pretty adamant that I had to come."

Naruto laughed and Kiba walked up next to us, slinging an arm around my shoulder.

"You hungry?" he questioned with a grin, and I paused, looking over to him.

"I can always eat," I replied seriously and his grin widened.

"Well then come on!"

With his arm still wrapped around my shoulder he led me to Sasuke's kitchen and scattered across the numerous counters were bags of chips, pizza, popcorn, salsa, candy – everything.

"Jesus," I said, stepping into the war zone, carefully taking a slice of pizza from one of the many cardboard boxes. "This is enough food to feed an army…"

Kiba laughed and crossed his arms proudly, looking around the area. "Yeah, Sasuke's one condition to letting Naruto have a party at his house was that everyone had to bring their own food."

Nodding, I surveyed the kitchen once again and then started laughing when I noted a tower of instant ramen stacked in the corner.

"I'm guessing Naruto brought that," I continued laughing and Kiba joined in my amusement when he saw what I was looking at.

Speaking of Naruto, a moment later the blonde bounded into the room and shrugged his arms around my and Kiba's shoulders.

"C'mon guys!" He said, pulling the two of us from the room, "We're gonna play Truth or Dare!"

"And so the games begin," I mumbled and then slipped out of his grasp, putting on a smile. "I'll be there in a minute!" I said, stepping back towards the kitchen, "I wanna get something to drink first!"

"Alright!" Naruto called back, "but hurry up!"

"Aa!" I responded, and then turned around, looking for some type of drink. First thing I saw was a large red punch bowl on the table, a stack of red cups next to it, so I headed over and scooped some of the liquid into a cup before heading back into the family room.

When Naruto spotted me he waved me over to where he was and moved his legs, revealing a spot that he had saved on the couch beside him.

"Thanks," I told him sincerely while plopping down onto the cushion. Naruto only grinned in response and I looked around as the others settled themselves in. On the other side of Naruto was Ino and on the couch parallel to the one the three of us were on was Sakura, Neji and Tenten. Kiba, Chouji and Shikamaru occupied the one to their left and to the right were Lee, Hinata, and Shino. Sasuke stood a little ways back from everyone, a red cup in his hand as he leisurely leaned against a pillar behind him.

Once everyone was settled in Ino clapped her hands together and glanced around the group. "Who wants to go first?"

"I will!" Tenten declared happily and immediately looked over to Lee. I sipped my drink as the brunette asked the bushy-eyebrowed teen the infamous question. "Lee, truth or dare?"

"Truth!" The male declared. "For I will never tell a lie!"

Tenten rolled her eyes a bit and took a second to think of a question. "Have you ever peeked in on a girl before?"

"Never!" Lee declared without hesitation and Tenten sighed dejectedly.

"I should've expected that…anyway, Lee it's your turn now."

"Um…Naruto-kun!"

The Uzumaki's head snapped in that direction and he blinked once in surprise.

"Truth or dare!"

Naruto grinned. "Dare!" Then he seemed to realize something and started stuttering. "Ah, shit, I mean-!"

"I dare you to do 100 push-ups!"

"Goddammit!" The blonde cursed and threw the pillow next to him onto the floor. A few people laughed at him while others sighed, knowing that they'd now have to wait a few minutes to continue on with their game.

As the Uzumaki slid down onto the ground and positioned himself to start I sipped the last of my drink from my cup. "Anyone want anything from the kitchen?" I questioned as Naruto began to count his push-ups out loud, Lee now beside him cheering him on.

Most people replied that they were fine, but as I walked past Shikamaru he held up his own cup and I snatched it from him, understanding what he meant.

By the time I filled up my own cup, Shikamaru's and one for Naruto, said blonde was on number 94 and looking half dead. Shikamaru thanked me as I handed him his cup and I smiled in return before heading back to my spot. A second later Naruto finished and collapsed onto the floor, panting heavily. I tapped him on the shoulder and held out his drink, and Naruto instantly grabbed it from me and chugged it down. When he retook his spot on the couch he hugged me gratefully and I only waved him off, saying that it was no big deal.

When Naruto regained his bearings he continued the game and after a few more rounds of people telling the truth and doing dares my mind became a little fuzzy. I didn't really feel that tired, but my mind wasn't really staying focused. I had a feeling I knew what was happening but I didn't really care – because this was the first time in the last 2 days that I wasn't feeling anything negative.

* * *

Sasuke became aware a few hours into the party that the punch in the kitchen was spiked. This wasn't anything new – almost every party nowadays had some type of spiked drink – but he was beginning to worry about the amount some of his friends had consumed in the first few hours of the night.

Naruto's words were becoming slurred and even Sakura's face seemed a little pink. Tenten looked like she was on the verge of being sick so a little while later when Hinata started hiccupping Neji grabbed them both, still sober enough to realize it was time to leave. Lee stumbled out after them, mumbling something about running laps despite being buzzed, and nearly half an hour after them Shino stood and left without a word, still looking dead sober.

Chouji hadn't been drinking punch all too much, his main intent to eat the food, but Shikamaru had finished off a few cups, so around 11PM the Akamichi woke his Nara friend up, who had fallen asleep on the couch, and the two of them headed out the front door.

Now all that was left were those who were completely drunk – Naruto, Ino, Kiba, Sakura, and Aerin. By now all of them were pink in the face, and while their speech wasn't too impaired their questions in the still ongoing game of truth or dare had certainly crossed a line.

"Kiba!" Aerin said, grinning at the brown haired male. "I dare you to lick Naruto's face!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as Kiba actually stood from his couch and walked up to Naruto, dragging his tongue along the side of his face. The blonde immediately reared back and wiped his face in disgust while the others all laughed.

"Gross!" Naruto exclaimed but Kiba only laughed again and looked over to Ino.

"Blondie, truth or dare?"

"Truth!" The blonde responded eagerly and Kiba grinned.

"You ever kiss' Shikamaru?"

Ino's face darkened from pink to red at hearing that but she stood her ground and responded. "Yeah – but only when we were little!"

"Oh how precious~!" Sakura cooed and the others laughed while Ino turned red again.

"Shut the hell up, forehead!"

"Make me, pig!"

"Alright girls!" Kiba butted in. "No fighting!"

Sasuke sighed and pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning against for a good portion of the night. Hadn't this game been going on long enough?

"Aerin!" Ino suddenly yelled, swinging her arm out to point at the surprised brunette. "Truth or dare!"

Aerin shook her head and leaned in, a devilish grin spreading across her face. "Dare."

Ino giggled and patted Sakura on the shoulder. "I dare you to give this girly a little smooch."

"Eh!?" Sakura said looking a bit surprised and Ino laughed.

"C'mon Saku! You haven't gotten any action in forever!"

Sakura's face seemed to turn a bit red from both embarrassment and anger, but before she could reach across to slap her blonde friend Aerin interrupted.

"Nah."

Ino blinked, mouth opening slightly. The others all looked shocked as well. "But…but you have to! It's a dare!"

Aerin nodded and leaned back, her eyes locked on the ceiling as she replied, "I know it is…but I'm not just gonna kiss someone who…I mean, Sakura and I aren't close – if we were I wouldn't have a problem with it – but, ya know…"

Naruto, Kiba and the two girls all continued to stare at her, not really knowing what to say or do in their drunken state. Though Sasuke had to admit he was surprised. Clearly Aerin was drunk but she had still managed to give reasoning for her decision even so.

"Well then," Ino suddenly said, not ready to give it up, "who are you close with?!"

In an instant Sasuke saw Aerin's eyes shift from Naruto to himself and then to her lap, her body tensing slightly. However, just as Sasuke was about to jump in and suggest they finally put an end to their game Aerin spoke up.

"Well, I just moved here so I don't know anyone too well really. But if you really want me to kiss someone Ino – I'll kiss you!"

Suddenly it was Ino who was on the hotspot and her face flushed red.

"W-what?! No! Of course not!"

Aerin smirked slightly and leaned back into the couch, crossing her arms triumphantly. "Then your dare is forfeit."

"Whatever," Ino breathed, flipping her long ponytail over her shoulder. "Sakura, what time is it?"

"Uhh," the pinkette stuttered, awkwardly reaching into her pocket and pulling out her cell phone. "12:04…"

At that moment the two friends looked at each other and then screamed, springing up from the couch. Kiba and Aerin winced in pain at the loud noise and Naruto nearly rolled of the couch in shock. Sasuke only sighed once again as the two scrambled around, gathering their things.

"My dad is gonna kill me!" Ino screeched as she hurried slipped on her blue flats, and across the room Sasuke nodded widely in agreement.

"Your dad? What about my _mom_?!"

"Oh shut it!" Ino yelled back, slipping her bag over her shoulder. Her eyes met Sasuke's for a moment before Sakura grabbed her by the arm and dragged the blonde towards the door.

"Bye! Thanks for inviting us!" The pinkette called.

"See you Monday!" Ino added in, and then a moment later the front door slammed closed and a car's engine revved outside.

"There gonna fucking die…," Aerin whispered after a moment, falling sideways onto the couch, and Kiba and Naruto laughed.

"Well," Kiba heaved himself up from the couch and stumbled to the side slightly, catching himself on the armrest. "I-I guess we should be going too, eh, Naruto?"

The blonde hiccupped and pushed himself upright, trying to stand and failing at it. "Y-yeah we should probably go."

Finally Sasuke stepped in, walking up to the remaining three guests. "None of you are leaving."

Naruto groggily looked up to his friend. "But Sasuke—"

The Uchiha rolled his eyes and grabbed Naruto's upper arm, helping him from the couch. "You're all way too drunk to drive home," he stated slinging Naruto's arm around his shoulder. "I've got plenty of guest rooms."

"Woooow," Naruto slurred as Sasuke dragged him down the long hall in front of them. "You're such a nice guy, Sasuke~"

The navy haired Uchiha only rolled his eyes in response, pushing Naruto into a room after opening the door. The Uzumaki only giggled drunkenly and stumbled to the bed, falling face first onto it. Sasuke rolled his eyes at the idiot before him and clicked the door shut; sure that Naruto would be asleep within two minutes.

Running a hand through his hair Sasuke walked back down the hall and entered the family room, surprised when he only found one body instead of two.

"Where's Kiba?"

Aerin yawned and rolled over, tiredly looking at him. "He said somethin' about walking home and that he'd be back for his car tomorrow."

Pinching the bridge of his nose Sasuke internally rolled his eyes. The dog brain could've stayed the night – he was fine with it.

"C'mon," the Uchiha finally said after a minute, offering Aerin a hand. The brunette only looked at his hand as if it were a foreign object and then looked up at him, face utterly innocent.

"What?" He questioned. Aerin stuck her lower lip out.

"I dun wanna move – the couch is comfy…"

Deadpanning, Sasuke finally had enough and leaned down scooping the girl into his arms.

"Noooo~!" She whined, struggling around. Sasuke clicked his tongue irritably and tightened his grip, nearly squishing her against his body to restrict her movement.

"Sasuke~," Aerin said again as the Uchiha carried her up the stairs, but the male ignored her and stepped into the hall upstairs, opening a door directly to the left. He headed into the room and flicked the light on before shuffling over to the bed, gently setting Aerin down onto the mattress. In that instant the brunette stopped complaining and relaxed her body, sinking into the sheets. Sasuke almost laughed at the suddenly look of zen that washed over her face, but kept his face straight and started towards the door.

"Wait-," Aerin grabbed his wrist before he could get too far away and Sasuke turned back, a bit surprised.

"…what?"

Aerin tugged on the Uchiha's arm and Sasuke allowed her to pull him in. He didn't know what she was doing but—

"Thank you," she said suddenly, and pressed her lips to his temple, letting him go a moment later.

Shocked, Sasuke pulled back and stared at the female on the bed before him. Sure she had given a hint earlier that she was close with both him and Naruto but…what was that?

Sasuke knew he wouldn't be getting his answer tonight though, for when he snapped out of his trance he noted Aerin's breathing had slowed and that she was already sleeping.

Breathing out, Sasuke shuffled back to the doorway and flicked the light off, closing the door behind him. The only thing he could tell himself at the moment was that Aerin was drunk – and drunk people do stuff they don't mean.

* * *

**Aerin's POV**

When most people wake up from sleeping it's like a switch is flipped in their mind…and it was for me too. But for some reason today it felt like the switch had been flipped but the light bulb was faulty – it kept flicking on and off and took about 5 minutes to finally become bright.

My body felt like a rock when I tried to move it. It took _effort_ to open my eyes.

"Goddamn," I breathed and stiffly pushed myself up, rubbing my eyes groggily. After a moment I finally opened them and around me was a dimly lit room. I took a minute to take the scene in and felt my heart jump.

I had no idea where this was.

"Fuck," I groaned and rolled to the edge of the mattress, touching my feet to the carpeted floor.

The last thing I remembered was Kiba daring Shikamaru to eat Chouji's plate of food…but after that – nothing. And since that was my last memory from the night I had absolutely no recollection of how I got into this room.

"Please don't be anything bad," I prayed as I reached for the door handle, pushing the slab of wood open.

The area outside the room was almost blindingly bright so I shielded my eyes and stepped out into the hall, taking a second to regain my sight. Thankfully, when I finally regained my bearings, the world around me started to look familiar. And as I stepped out to a balcony overlooking the floor below I finally realized that I was in Sasuke's house.

"This place is fucking _huge_," I whispered to myself in awe as I finally took in home. Hell, it could've been classified as a _mansion_.

Then I paused. Why was I still in his house?

'_Shit,' _I thought. Why _was _I still in his house?

And then, at that moment the smell of bacon wafted to my nose and I blinked in surprise. Was someone making breakfast?

Deciding to check it out I cautiously made my way down the stairs and walked towards the smell. As I got closer I could even hear the sizzling.

When I stepped into the frame of the kitchen I saw Sasuke standing by the stove, apron wrapped around his torso, and Naruto sitting at the kitchen table nursing a glass of orange juice.

"Good morning," I greeted after a moment of hesitation and the two turned to me.

Naruto smiled sincerely and replied, "Morning."

"Glad to see your up," Sasuke added in and I laughed slightly, shuffling towards the table.

"Let me guess," I said as I slid into a chair beside Naruto. "That punch was spiked?"

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder and eyebrow rose. "You knew?"

I shrugged and placed my palm under my chin. "Yeah, I guess so…I've never been affected by any type of drink before so I just assumed."

The Uchiha paused in his cooking completely. "And yet you drank it even so?"

I shrugged again, my eyes on the table as I the reason to why I did returned to me. "Yeah…"

There were a few seconds of silence before I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder.

"I don't know what's going on…," Naruto started seriously, his voice sympathetic as he hugged me to his side. "But…you can tell me – us – anything."

Not knowing what to say I glanced over Naruto's shoulder at Sasuke. The Uchiha had already shut off the stove burner, and was now staring at the two of us, ready to give his attention.

"Guys," I finally said, my chest beginning to feel heavy again as depression started to set in. "I just…I don't want to put any of this on you. These are my own problems and I feel like if I say anything then I'm forcing something unwanted onto the both of you…"

"Aerin," Naruto said sternly, placing his hand on my shoulder. "When I say that you can tell us anything I mean it completely. We're here to listen."

"But I feel like you're lying!" I exclaiming, exhaling deeply as I turned to look at them both, my eyes wide. "I just moved here and I don't understand why you're being so _nice_."

Naruto opened his mouth, looking almost shocked at the fact that I didn't understand.

"Because you're our _friend_, Aerin."

For a moment I just stared at him. I stared into his bright blue orbs unbelievingly.

And then finally I just gave up. I turned my head down to the table and shoved my eyes into my shirt sleeve, tears stinging at my eyes. It took all of my will power to stop myself from crying but a few sniffles made their way from my throat as I wiped a few droplets away.

For a minute the kitchen stood in silence, Sasuke still near the stove, me at the table and Naruto beside me, rubbing soothing circles between my shoulder blades.

"Guys," I finally managed. "All I can say is that people have their ups and downs – and at this moment I'm down – but I'll get back up, alright? The last few months haven't been the kindest and I really hate change – so this whole thing is a bit stressful but I'm trying – really."

"Alright," Naruto sighed after a moment. "I get it and I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," I sniffled, hitting him in the shoulder as I smiled up at him. "You didn't do anything!"

Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "But I don't know what to say to make you feel better!"

"You've already done enough," I told him sincerely, leaning my head against his shoulder. "So thanks for that."

"Here," a plate was placed on the table in front of me and a hand placed itself atop my head. Leaning back Sasuke smirked slightly and ruffled my hair before turning back to the stove. "Eat up."

With a small thank you I dug into the food on the plate and Naruto laughed slightly, still smiling. Suddenly he blinked and snapped his head back to Sasuke.

"What the hell teme?! I've been sitting here for half an hour while you cook food and you give _her_ the first plate?!"

Sasuke's smirk returned as he flipped a pancake. "I like her more than you."

Naruto looked absolutely befuddled. "But Sasuke! What?!"

I laughed at the unfolding situation and patted Naruto on the arm. "Dude if it's that important to you I'll give you my plate, it's no big deal."

"What?" Naruto said, suddenly looking surprised. "Oh no," he continued dreadfully, grabbing me by the shoulders. "I didn't make you feel bad, did I? Shit, Aerin, I'm sorry, I—"

"Shut the fuck up and eat," I interrupted, shoving a piece of pancake into his mouth. "Just because I was upset doesn't mean you've gotta be cautious about everything," I grumbled, taking a bite of bacon.

"Sorry…," Naruto mumbled chewing the food in his mouth and I glared at him.

"What did I just say?"

"Goddammit!" Naruto cursed rubbing his head angrily and I laughed.

A minute later Sasuke handed Naruto his own plate of food before serving himself, taking a seat across from the two of us.

"So," I finally said as I cleared the last piece of food from my plate. "What happened last night?"

"Oh yeah," Naruto added in, looking over to Sasuke. "I don't really remember…"

Sasuke closed his eyes, taking a bite of his pancake. "Not much. You all played truth or dare the entire time."

"For real?" Naruto laughed. "God, I wonder what the hell we did."

"Yeah," I joined in. "Hopefully nothing crazy."

Sasuke shook his head. "Nothing crazy."

"Good," I nodded and stood, picking up my plate. I carried it over to the sink and started to wash it off. Just the feel of cleaning it made me realize something.

"Sasuke…did you clean the whole house?"

The Uchiha looked up at me blankly. "What else what I supposed to do at 1 in the morning?"

I sighed. "Goddammit, I feel terrible now. I get drunk and spend the night at your house but you do all the work."

Sasuke shrugged, continuing to eat his food. "I invited you and let you stay the night. It's not like you did anything wrong."

I sighed again. "Yeah well…"

"Don't worry about it," he finally said, walking up beside me and placing his own plate into the sink.

"Fine," I mumbled, letting the matter go.

I stood there beside Sasuke as he washed off his plate and suddenly thought of something.

"Today is Sunday, isn't it?"

"Yep!" Naruto chimed in and I cursed, beginning to scramble around the room.

"What's wrong?" The blonde questioned at seeing my panic and I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"I've got to write the essay Kakashi sensei gave us for homework…"

"What have you been doing for the last two days?" The blonde questioned, looking shocked that I hadn't done it yet.

"Being depressed!" I replied honestly, searching around the couches. "And – where the hell are my keys?!"

"Here," Sasuke suddenly put it, stepping out of the kitchen, my lanyard dangling from his hand. I looked to him for an answer and he just shrugged. "In case you tried to leave last night," he said, tossing them to me.

"Well that sounds creepy," I joked and the Uchiha rolled his eyes. With a small laughed I skipped up to the two friend and hugged them both around the neck.

"Thanks for inviting me!" I said as I hurried towards the front door. "I had a good time – and thanks for listening guys!"

"Anytime!" Naruto called back with a wave of his own. "Glad you feel better now!"

"Yeah," I laughed and sent a smile to Sasuke who raised his hand in goodbye.

"See you tomorrow," he said simply and with that I shuffled out the front door and made my way to my car.

For some reason I got the feeling that more happened than Sasuke had said but I brushed it off. At the moment I was just glad that I felt better and that the two of them sincerely seemed to care. Hopefully this was a sign that things would start to get a bit better.

* * *

**Ello lovies~**

**I apologize for the wait but to be honest this is typical of me. And it probably won't change either.**

**Anyway, I've had a very long day so I apologize for any spelling errors and such. When I re-read it tomorrow I'll correct what I find (because there's always some). **

**But as for my long day - today was our family reunion! :D I always like our reunions because it's such a big family. Plus it's all the fucking Van's. Literally.**

**Vandenboom, Vanrusmullen, Van-whatever. That's half the family - the other half is the half with my last name (Which I'm not about to tell you XD).**

**But it was fun despite the hot weather. **

**Oh, and guess what? Tomorrow is Fairy Tail day. 7/7 - because 7/7/777 is when all the dragons disappeared. And it's also my birthday - I guess that's pretty cool too.**

**Sweet 16 baby - nothing sweet about it XD**

**It's just another year :P No big deal. I'm going to church and then going back to my aunts to hang out with some of our relatives that came up from Texas for the reunion. It's just like any other day but with gifts. And besides that - I already got one of my gifts. I asked for a desk and got one a week ago which I already put together. Hopefully I'll be able to use it soon.**

**But yeah. I turn 16 at like 1:32 in the morning or some shit like that. Woohoo!**

**I think I managed to post an update within a couple hours of my birthday every year. For this fic it'll be a first XD**

**Anyway, I'm seriously really tired so I'm gonna wrap this up.**

**I hope you're all having a wonderful summer!**

**Ciao!**

**Please review~**

**(It'll be like a birthday present :D)**


End file.
